ILC Dover lands flood protection deal for NYC subways

ILC Dover this week inked a deal to build flood control systems for 23 subway stairwells in New York City.

The Frederica-based company's contract with J-Track LLC of New York represents the first sale of ILC Dover's new Stairwell Flex-Gate system.

The high-strength barriers are designed to protect subway stations from the type of flooding that shutdown most of the city's subway system during Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

A test unit of the new system was installed over a single stairwell leading to the Canal Street station in Lower Manhattan in July.

While terms of the deal were not disclosed, J-Tracks' contract to install the flood protection measures is worth more than $11.3 million.

ILC Dover will custom design each Flex-Gates to the unique dimensions of the 23 stairwells. J-Track then will install the systems at subway stations in the Lower Manhattan flood zones along Canal and Franklin streets.

The gates are expected to be installed at all 23 locations in the next 6 to 9 months, said Alan George, the business development manager for ILC Dover.

"Right now, the New York City Transit Authority uses aluminum or steel plates to protect their stations from being flooded," George said. "Those plates are stored off-site and it takes valuable time to install them when their needed."

The Flex-Gates developed by ILC Dover will be installed at the entrance to each stairwell. The gates can be deployed and retracted within minutes, allowing the subway stations to remain open as long as possible, he said.

"The gates are essentially a waterproof fabric supported by interwoven webbing that's capable of holding back the pressure of 14 feet of water," George said. "It's all supported by a steel frame and housed right there at the site where it's needed."

The Flex-Gate systems are part of ILC Dover's new line of flood protection products borne out of a flood control project the company is developing for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

That project involves the creation of a giant inflatable plug built to hold back the massive flooding of subway tunnels that could result from a terrorist attack or natural disaster. ILC Dover's Resilient Tunnel Plug technology is still in the testing phase and should be ready by 2016, George said.

"The transit authority saw what we were working on and said they wanted something that also could stop water from the top down and asked if we could do something like that for them," he said.

The company also has developed flood walls, flaps that cover vent shafts and vertical gates that can be used to protect rail and highway tunnels.

Email Scott Goss at sgoss@delawareonline.com or follow him on Twitter @ScottGossDel.