Beneficial Use of Dredging Materials from Harbors and Channels

Dredging is necessary for maintaining marine freight transport. However, dredged material management options for commercial ports, particularly those involving confined disposal facilities or other long term or permanent placement, are diminishing. Many existing Great Lakes disposal facilities serving these ports are at or near capacity and high costs plus limited new site availability make prospects for new or expanded capacity increasingly unlikely. Beneficial use of dredged materials, alone or in mixtures, can have a major impact on the cost of dredging and on associated environmental benefits. Given the declining placement capacity, "disposal" of non-toxic dredged material into existing disposal facilities is no longer feasible as an ongoing management practice. Reuse or recycling of material suitable for beneficial use has emerged as the most practical approach to sustainable management. Using dredged materials instead of natural mined materials could contribute to environmental sustainability and energy independence. Beneficial reuse could include applications in construction of transportation facilities such as structural fills, backfills behind retaining walls, and pavement sub-base material. One factor favoring increased beneficial use is the improving physical quality of the material; however this message needs to be shared with potential users who historically have not utilized this material in the past. This project will bring dredged material property information and example beneficial use projects to a major partner in the overall freight coalition: the state departments of transportation.

• Record URL:
  http://www.wistrans.org/cfire/research/projects/ri-08-2/

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Completed
• Funding: $33915.00
• Contract Numbers:

  DTRT12-G-UTC19

  RI-08

• Sponsor Organizations:

  National Center for Freight and Infrastructure Research and Education (CFIRE)

  University of Wisconsin, Madison
  1415 Engineering Drive, 2205 Engineering Hall
  Madison, WI  United States  53706
• Start Date: 20120701
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• Source Data: RiP Project 33045

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Channels (Waterways); Dredged materials; Environmental impacts; Fills; Harbors; Recycled materials; Retaining walls; Subbase (Pavements)
• Uncontrolled Terms: Disposal
• Subject Areas: Marine Transportation; Policy; I15: Environment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01466542
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: National Center for Freight and Infrastructure Research and Education (CFIRE)
• Contract Numbers: DTRT12-G-UTC19, RI-08
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Jan 3 2013 3:19PM