Using dredged material to create bricks, concrete barriers

Dredging is the removal of sediments that build up in shipping channels – a critical process for providing safe passage for ships that travel the channels. Approximately 150 nautical miles of channels run through the Chesapeake Bay, Patapsco River and Baltimore Harbor. On average, 4.7 million cubic yards of sediment must be dredged every year to maintain them. Finding solutions with sustainable capacity for this volume of dredged material is an ongoing challenge.

In regard to this, Governor Larry Hogan and the state Board of Public Works (BPW) yesterday approved contracts with two Maryland companies to study use of sediment from shipping channels leading to the Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore for innovative purposes such as creation of structural concrete.

The contracts follow three others recently approved by the BPW to test use of dredged material to make bricks and pavers, concrete barriers and shoreline protection structures, as well as in sod production.