Great Lakes Petroleum

Rouge River Facility, Michigan

 

 

OWNER:       Great Lakes Petroleum

 

 

 

ENGINEER:                                     Faust Corporation

Contact:                                           Marc Faust

DREDGING CONTRACTOR:      Faust Corporation 

Contact:                                           Marc Faust 

                                                   

 

CONTRACT DETAILS

 

Contract Duration:             3 Weeks      

 

 

SCOPE of WORK:              Conduct Pre-Dredge Hydrographic Survey

                                                Remove sediments to -20 LWD

                                                Transport Sediments to Rouge River CDF

                                                Pump sediment to required disposal site

                                                Conduct Post-Dredge hydrographic survey

 

PROJECT OVERVIEW:

Great Lakes Petroleum contracted Faust Corporation to perform navigational dredging at the facility docks on the Rouge River in Dearborn, Michigan. The dock had been out of service for several years and a pre-dredge survey indicated that several feet of silt had accumulated reducing the available draft for freighters. To increase the load potential for freighters a dredging program was designed to remove sediment to a depth of 20 feet below (-20) the Low Water Datum (LWD). Based on pre-dredge data approximately 5600 cubic yards of material had accumulated. The permit issued to Great Lakes Petroleum allowed for the removal of 4500 cubic yards of material requiring modification of the dredge plans.  The decision was made to shorten the dredge area by approximately 100 feet to remain within the volume restrictions of the permit.

 

UNIQUE SOLUTIONS:

During the dredging operations two unexpected conditions were encountered.

 

First there was a large amount of debris in the sediment. The debris ranged in character from large broken wood piles to large cement and brick and mortar rubble. In addition a large amount of structural lumber was uncovered.  Based on the position of the broken wood piles and other factors this debris is believed to be the remnants of an old dock that had been removed in the past and most of the debris deposited in the water.

 

Second the western third (downstream) of the dredge area had apparently never been dredge in the past.  Only a couple of feet of soft silty material, typical of siltation of a period of time, were encountered. The bulk of the material was native clay. This forced a change in dredging operations requiring the use a smaller, toothed digging bucket that was capable of digging the hard clay. Additionally this clay could not be unloaded by pumping and had to be unloaded into trucks and transported to the disposal area

 

 

 Great Lakes Petroleum