Peoria Riverfront Development (Ecosystem Restoration) Phases I & II

Creation of a 21-acre island on the Illinois Waterway to restore and improve wildlife habitats. Project included installation of geotextile containers filled by pumping high solids silt and clay with a positive displacement pump. Included dredging a perimeter channel around the island, placing a silt berm inside the containers, and placing rip-rap erosion protection.

One of the biggest challenges was accumulating and assembling the proper equipment for pumping the high solids materials into the geotextile containers as this process had never previously been accomplished on this scale in this part of the country. Midwest Foundation worked with a designer and a fabricator to design and fabricate a new type of “clay shredder” which allowed the team to process the existing river bottom clays and enable them to be introduced into a standard concrete pump.

Continuation of Phase I project involving creation of a 21-acre island on the Illinois Waterway to restore and improve wildlife habitats. Scope of work included installation of additional geotextile containers filled with silt, lake dredging, and installation of rip-rap for erosion control.

Client

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Rock Island District

Expertise