Constructed Fill - Port Criteria

Tom Johnson provided additional information on this alternative. The Port of Long Beach has not planned to make construction grade material, but simply has dealt with whatever they have had on the spot. For Pier C, they used very mucky material from the LA River; sand was added to produce acceptable material (5:1 to 9:1 sand:ooze); they used 50,000 cubic yards of muck in the project.

In general, the lower levels of the fill are not critical, so we probably don’t need acceptance criteria for this. However, the design criteria for the upper level (precise size or depth of this layer has not been defined) would be critical; we should establish criteria for container facilities, since this is a common use and may represent worst-case loading on the site. The contractor usually can work fine-grained material into a site, but for extra $$. The City’s construction inspector would make the decision on whether the blended material is acceptable; there are compaction tests and bulk density tests that can be used to determine compliance with construction specifications. In the past, the Port has been willing to incorporate its own fine-grained material into certain projects, but normally would not accept low quality material from others. Project costs are very case-specific.

Assignment: review what the Army Corps of Engineers knows about blending.

Data Gaps

We need to assess existing information on reuse by compiling what is available on the Internet. Tom Johnson will look into whether the Port of Long Beach could hire a consultant to do this.

We need a pilot project to define the proper ratio of fine-grained to coarse-grained material for blending to produce acceptable constructed fill material.

We still need more info on reusing sediments for asphalt production.

Progress Report