Location: Benton, IL / Baldwin, IL
Client: US Army Engineering and Support Center (USAESC), Huntsville, AL
Bhate was contracted to repair and paint the Rend Lake spillway bridge, demolish a 550-foot long former railroad trestle bridge, dredge the Rend Lake boat access areas at three locations, and dredge oxbows along the Kaskaskia River near the IL/MO border. The first task was upgrading the 300-foot Rend Lake spillway bridge which included pressure washing, replacing missing connector bolts, installing longer deck drains, and painting the underlying steel structure, all completed while the bridge remained open to traffic. The second task included removal of silt within the boat launch areas at North Marcum, Gun Creek, and Ina Campgrounds. The final task included the dredging silt from 11 Kaskaskia River oxbows. Silt had washed into the river over the years and left less than 1-foot of water in many of these oxbows. Bhate mobilized to the site with equipment to dredge, transport, offload, and place in designated disposal sites. Bhate dredged approximately 100,000 cy3 of material from the oxbows form October until March working through harsh winter conditions on the river.