Matt Markum loves bidding on unique projects. So, when a bid request came across his desk from Great River Engineering for a stream bank stabilization project along Crooked Creek in Crawford County, Missouri, he jumped at the opportunity.
And now, following two weeks of surveying, hauling and excavating, Markum believes that Environmental Works, Inc. (EWI), has created a stream bank berm that will last “indefinitely.”
“I believe erosion would have to alter the channel of the stream upstream of the stabilized area before any issues would be seen in this area,” Markum, a senior project manager in Investigation/Remediation at EWI, said.
The site of the stabilization project was a perpetual problem for not only the landowner losing farm acres along the creek to annual erosion, but to the Crawford County Roads District, which had seen ongoing bridge maintenance issues caused by flooding and erosion. The Roads District had recently extended the bridge and added several culverts under it, and, coupled with EWI’s stream bank stabilization, believes the new bridge will finally be able to withstand extreme flooding events.
Markum enlisted Evan King, Field Services environmental scientist, to serve as on-site project manager, and veteran Equipment Operator Jeff Crawford to do the earth and rock moving. King coordinated the drop off of 2,000 cubic yards of quarried limestone by four different local rock hauling companies, constantly directing the truck drivers on where to dump the rock and taking invoice tickets from them, while Crawford used an EWI-owned excavator to move the Missouri Department of Transportation “Type 4” (18 to 24 inch) and “Type 2” (six to eight inch) rocks into place to create the massive football field-length berm.
The rocks used were specified by Great River Engineering’s Jeff Banderet, P.E., who designed and provided oversight and approval for the project.
The bid request for the project came from Great River Engineering, and Markum bid it with assistance from Richard Scott, also a project manager in Investigation/Remediation, but EWI was contracted by Crawford County directly. EWI’s total cost of the project to the county was $101,051.98; however, the county has applied for federal funding to recoup much of the project costs.
“Initially, the project was very challenging because it kept getting pushed because of weather,” said Markum. “But once it dried out it went really well.”
A lesser known service line, EWI has completed several soil stabilization and erosion control projects.
“We have completed one or two other erosion control projects or jobs with bank stabilization of a somewhat different nature,” said Markum. “This was probably the largest.”
Markum added that he looks forward to bidding on more stabilization and erosion control jobs in the future.
