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The dredge disposal from the first dredging contract (October 2000-February 2001) was sent to a formerly mined site in Charles City, Virginia.

The site filled with over 340,000 cubic yards of soil from the dredging operation is now completely vegetated with the exception of a few large open water ponds that will be used for future dredge material placement. It's quite amazing that several months ago the site looked like the surface of the moon. Now, a passerby would have no idea that this 42-acre cell was once a mud pie. This site provides excellent habitat for a number of bird and mammal species.

Scientists from Virginia Tech performed sampling and decided to plow a one-acre plot. The plot pictured above was planted with winter wheat, which is starting to sprout. The dredged material in this corner of the site is over 10 feet deep. The landowner and Virginia Tech are planning to plant a soybean crop in the spring of 2002 and hope to plant corn in the spring of 2003. Virginia Tech scientists and the property owner are thrilled with the continued success of the site.

The first of 4-5 barges with a significant amount of debris from the foundations contract arrived at Weanack on October 25th, 2001 and was off-loaded on October 27th and 28th. The debris is associated with the dredging along the VA shoreline (Virginia Shipbuilding remnants) and mostly consists of woody debris (timber, planks, and piles) with a small amount of steel, copper, cable, and concrete. Prior to its transport, the material was reviewed by Project and State of Virginia archaeologists. It was confirmed that this material was not of archaeological significance and was hauled to the Weanack site for sorting.

The last barge for this contract will be delivered to Weanack during the week of November 11. That will complete the delivery of approximately 45,000 cy averaging about 2000 cy in 22 barge loads between the summer of 2001 and November 2002. The total now placed for the Dredging contract and to date for the Foundations contract is 375,000 cy.

The bridge superstructure, that is everything from the pedestals of the completed foundations, has been separated into three contracts:

• BR -3A consisting of the moveable span, operator's tower, and pier supports will require approximately 4,000 cy of dredging for submarine cables.
• BR-3B - the Virginia approach to the bascule span does not require dredging.
• BR-3C - the Maryland approach to the bascule span will require approximately 100,000 cy of dredging. This quantity will be dredged for the channel for the demolition of the existing bridge on the north side, the remainder of the dredging under the existing bridge, and possibly other dredging to access a staging area. There is a potential for maintenance dredging.

Testing of dredged soil every 30,000 cy indicates that there are no elevated levels of contaminants in the delivered mud and that groundwater completely surrounding the reclamation basin is contaminant free.

The landowner is recycling as much of the material as possible and may attempt to use some of the small wooden pilings as fence posts in the future.

Reference: Michael S. Baker, Environmental Construction Manager, Woodrow Wilson Bridge Project, October 29th, 2001.