The Cedar Point Causeway Wetlands Breakwater for the City of Sandusky has received a National Recognition Award in the 2023 American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) Engineering Excellence Awards (EEA) competition (>>View Drone Footage). The awards program, known as the “Academy Awards” of the engineering industry, is a prestigious distinction honoring projects demonstrating exceptional engineering excellence at the national level.
KS Associates was recognized at a black-tie gala on Tuesday, June 13, 2023, in Washington D.C., during the 2023 ACEC Annual Convention & Legislative Summit. Accepting the award were Lynn Miggins, P.E., President, who also serves as the ACEC Ohio National Director, and Mark Cencer, P.E., Director of Coastal Engineering Services, who served as Project Manager the project.
Earlier in 2023, the Cedar Point Causeway Wetlands Breakwater project was one of seven projects that won an Outstanding Achievement Award at the state level. In Ohio, a four-member panel of professional engineers and surveyors judged 33 entries based on merits including uniqueness, innovative applications of new or existing engineering techniques, future value to the engineering profession, enhanced public awareness, and social, economic, and sustainable considerations. The Cedar Point Causeway Wetlands Breakwater project demonstrated merits in all of those categories.
About the Project:
The Cedar Point Causeway Wetlands Breakwater project is a unique concept that resolves two major challenges: The breakwater 1) provides a structure to contain dredge material that, since 2015, can no longer be disposed in the open waters of Lake Erie, and 2) is beneficially reusing the dredge material to create and restore wetland habitats in Sandusky Bay. The breakwater is the first fully constructed component of the larger, multi-year Sandusky Bay Initiative (SBI), an Ohio Department of Natural Resources program that aims to turn the bay into a cleaner, healthier body of water for both wildlife and people. KS Coastal Engineers provided final design, permitting, bidding, and construction phases for the project.
The breakwater has the capacity to contain up to 260,000 cubic yards of material dredged by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from the Sandusky Bay Federal Navigation Channel — the equivalent of two years’ worth of dredging. The structure, constructed of approximately 3,300 linear feet of armor stone, was designed to dissipate wave energy and provide protection for dredge material placement. The dredge material will help to establish and restore up to 31 acres of in-water wetlands.
This pilot project is the first non-federal dredge containment structure to be constructed along the shore of Lake Erie. The project includes several concepts for dredge material management, wetland restoration, and nature-based/living shorelines. These concepts, currently being explored at larger ocean ports, are new to Lake Erie. The lessons learned throughout this project will be applied to future projects aimed at improving Sandusky Bay, other Lake Erie harbors, and throughout the Great Lakes.
