Beckwith North Stream Mitigation Project Named ACEC TN 2018 Grand Award Winner
November 02, 2018
The American Council of Engineering Companies of Tennessee honored S&ME’s Beckwith North Stream Mitigation project as a Grand Award Winner at the 2018 Engineering Excellence Awards. The project won in the Water Resources Small Projects category. Located near Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, the Beckwith North development provides a large distribution center to serve growing enterprises in the Nashville area.
S&ME’s Vice President and Technical Principal Ken Barry, PE, developed a plan to mitigate unavoidable impacts to small streams on the site using a unique approach to stabilizing the banks of the unnamed tributary to Cedar Creek that flowed across the western portion of the site. Shallow bedrock, lack of bank vegetation, and an over-widened channel were just some of the challenges of the project. Adjoining wetlands limited construction access because wetlands could not be filled to build up the stream banks without additional permitting and mitigation expense.
S&ME used square Bio-D® block coir blocks anchored to the bedrock with wooden stakes installed in holes drilled into the rock. This approach avoided wetland impacts, enabled channel restoration to appropriate dimensions, and stabilized the banks using soil behind the Bio-D® block for a cost-effective project.