Beneficial use of dredged materials in Great Lakes commercial ports for transportation projects.

PDFTech ReportCFIRE 07-06DTRT06-G-0020PortsHarborsDredged materialsEarthworkGeotechnical engineeringConstruction projectsBuilding materialsRecyclingWaste managementUnited StatesNational Center for Freight and Infrastructure Research and Education (U.S.)Likos, William J.Yu, HuaNational Center for Freight and Infrastructure Research and Education (U.S.)United States. Dept. of Transportation. Research and Innovative Technology AdministrationUS Transportation CollectionThis report describes an effort to facilitate beneficial use of dredged materials (DM) from Great Lakes ports and harbors as an alternative constructionmaterial in transportation-related earthwork applications. The overall objective is to link together the following components: 1) identify applicationsfor use of DM in transportation-related projects, 2) summarize required geotechnical properties in specific transportation applications, 3) identifyavailable geotechnical test methods to determine those properties, 4) identify specific values of required geotechnical material properties for specificuses, and 5) identify locations within the Great Lakes region where dredged materials meeting these specifications may be sourced. This report pullstogether available information on potential applications for the use of DM in transportation earthwork projects, the required geotechnical properties ofmaterials according to federal and state construction specifications, and the geotechnical laboratory and field test methods available to determinethese properties. Representative geotechnical properties of DM from select Great Lakes locations are synthesized from available literature and theresults of laboratory tests conducted on DM sampled from the Milwaukee confined disposal facility (CDF). Results are evaluated within theframework developed above to assess the suitability of unamended DM from each location for beneficial use in transportation construction. Based onthe information obtained, material potentially sourced from these locations has limited direct use in its raw or unamended form. Review of generalsediment types in harbors throughout the region, however, indicates that there may be large potential for beneficial use of DM because the sedimenttype from numerous harbors in the region is predominantly coarse-grained. Fine-grained materials are also a potential source of material if amended orstabilized with other materials (e.g., fly ash). Future effort should focus on laboratory evaluation of stabilized fine-grained DM, detailed fieldcharacterization of the physical properties at DM sources throughout the region, and dissemination and outreach to promote the concept of beneficialuse of dredged materials in transportation construction