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I-69 Water Main Relocations

Greene and Monroe Counties, Indiana

Wessler provided design, permitting and construction administration services for 19 water main relocation projects in Sections 3 and 4 of the Interstate 69 (I-69) construction through Greene County and Monroe County.

Each project area was studied for possible environmental impacts and planned appropriately to avoid, minimize and then mitigate unavoidable impacts. Permits for waterway crossings, wetland impacts, construction in a floodway and erosion and sediment control were obtained prior to the beginning of each project.

Early coordination was completed and permits were obtained from the following agencies: Indiana Department of Environmental Management (401 Water Quality Certification and Rule 5), US Army Corps of Engineers (404 Permit for waterway/wetland impacts) and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (construction in a floodway). The project design also had to account for wellhead protection areas, underground karst features and restricted tree‐cutting periods to prevent adverse impacts to threatened and endangered species, such as the Indiana Bat and the Bald Eagle.

During construction, Wessler completed regulatory inspections to ensure that permit conditions were implemented as planned and provided coordination with appropriate regulatory agencies to close out permits as the projects were completed.

The water mains were the first utility relocated in all but two locations, and we were able to accelerate work schedules with limited notice, sometimes by as much as three months. This fast tracking of schedules provided a considerable benefit to the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT), the interstate construction schedule, and to the utility.

Approximately 12,000 linear feet of land clearing was conducted within the existing I-69 right-of-way and/or 20-foot wide easements along the route of the planned water main relocations.  Land clearing included complete removal of trees and stumps, erosion control measures, and temporary site stabilization.  In order to avoid impacts to the roosting habitat of the Indiana Bat, it was necessary to schedule the tree clearing between November 16 and April 1.

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Amy Harvell, CHMM, RPC

Environmental Services Group Head

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