This week, Summit County’s design-build team of Ecological Resource Consultants/Tezak Heavy Equipment (ERC/Tezak) is continuing major earthwork operations on the Swan River Restoration project site. This past Monday, the mobile rock milling plant arrived to the site and for much of the remainder of the week, crews will be assembling and testing equipment. Located just east of Rock Island Road, this machinery will be used to transform the vast quantities of dredge gravels into usable materials for onsite and offsite beneficial reuse. Onsite manufactured materials will be used primarily for a natural subsurface stream liner, as well as the mineral component of riparian and upland soils that are largely absent from the restoration site.

Earthwork is ongoing and the site is quickly transforming. Nearly all of the gravel piles have been sorted and relocated from the project area, soil reclamation continues, and some of the initial grading for the new Swan River stream channel is becoming visible.  
 

With earthwork ongoing and the mobile rock milling machinery nearly operational, there will be an increase in construction-related traffic crossing Rock Island Road back and forth between the restoration site and rock milling platform. Rock Island Road will remain open throughout construction; however please observe all traffic controls in place during operations, including stop signs placed at the intersection of Rock Island Road and the temporary construction access roads.

Work is scheduled to continue through November 2016, followed by a winter shut-down period, before recommencing in spring 2017. Additional information about Swan River Restoration Project is available at RestoreTheSwanRiver.com as well as on the Open Space and Trails Special Projects web page. If you have additional questions about the restoration project, you can contact Summit County Open Space and Trails Director Brian Lorch, or Open Space and Trails Resource Specialist Jason Lederer, or call 970.668.4060.