OWNER:
Alabama State Docks Department
P.O. Box 1588
Mobile, Alabama 36601

ENGINEER:
Tensar Earth Technologies, Inc.

CONTRACTOR:
Brunson Construction Co., Inc.
P.O. Box 336
Saraland, Alabama 36571

In order to prevent suspended coal fines from entering Mobile Bay through storm water runoff, Alabama State Docks awarded a contract for design/construction of a sedimentation pond located in a dredge disposal area adjacent to the McDuffie Coal Terminal. The surface of the dredge disposal area was approximately +22 MSL and borings throughout the site showed that very soft clays (dredge spoil) interbedded with some sand strata extended down as deep as elevation -35 MSL. Specifications for the project required the construction of the 1,425-foot containment dike for the sedimentation pond to extend to elevation +32 thus requiring a dike height of ten feet over the dredge spoil area. The project specifications required that any interested geosynthetic manufacturer submit designs and qualification records along with the cost of any geosynthetic reinforcement to prospective bidders. Of the six general contractors who bid the project all six selected The Tensar Earth Technologies, Inc. design. The design was predicated on the principles of effective stress and required a stage construction of the dike and instrumentation program to monitor the field response. After the initial lift, subsequent filling was governed by the rate of dissipation of excess pore pressure. This project was successfully completed in January 1992.