Plainwell No. 2 Dam Area Removal Action –
Construction Update: June 2010

Site Preparation Complete, Excavation Now Underway

Once the Michigan winter passed and spring returned to the area, field crews were back to work for the second season of the Plainwell No. 2 Dam Area cleanup project. Site preparation activities – including bringing in materials and equipment, building access roads, clearing vegetation, and building Staging Areas 1 and 2 (see the map and photograph below) – got underway in late April. Efforts in the 2010 construction season are focused on the southern bank of the river and Island 2. A key element of the early work was building a temporary floating bridge to move equipment and materials over to the island to complete the removal of targeted soils in that area (see photographs of the bridge being installed and used). Field teams also started planting trees in the removal areas on the northern bank of the Kalamazoo River (see photograph below) – construction work ended too late in 2009 for successful planting last year.

Crews started excavating floodplain and river bank soils from Island 2 during the first week of June. When removal work on the island is complete, the area will be replanted, and the excavation crews will move on to Removal Area 3B. Over the next few months, work will continue downstream with removal of targeted materials in each area followed by restoration efforts.

Soils excavated from each area will be taken to either Staging Area 1 or 2 to be dried out before being loaded onto trucks and hauled off for final disposal. Excavated materials will be transported to Allied Waste′s C&C Landfill in Marshall, Mich., and Ottawa County Farms Landfill in Coopersville, Mich.

If you have any questions about the ongoing work, please contact the project team at Kalamazoo.Plainwell@arcadis-us.com.

Safety Notice

Although work in the Plainwell No. 2 Dam Area has slowed for the winter, public access in this area will be limited for the duration of the project. There is no river access between D Avenue and Main Street in Plainwell. Please observe the orange safety buoys and river closure notices at all times. River closure notices are posted at Mayor′s Riverfront Park, Merrill Park, South Wenke Park, and Verber Park as well as other access points along the river (see photographs below of signs at South Wenke and Verber Parks). View a map of the put in/take out points upstream and downstream of the project area.

Click on photo to enlarge.

River Closure sign posted at Verber Park.	River closure sign posted at South Wenke Park.

Photos from May and June 2010

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Installing a barge section as part of the temporary floating bridge crossing to Island 2.	An off-road truck crossing the temporary bridge to Island 2.
Planting native tree species in Removal Area 3A.	Installing a protective layer of stone as part of the base materials in Staging Area 2.

Targeted Removal Areas – Plainwell No. 2 Dam Area

All dimensions and features represented on this map are approximate. Actual locations of access roads and staging areas and final boundaries of removal areas will be determined at the time of construction.