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Marine Construction

Poplar Island Expansion

Poplar Island, Talbot County, MD

Oct 2017 - Oct 2019

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300 Species habitated

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$50M in tax dollars saved

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Zero lost man-hours

The Details


Contracted by the US Army Corps of Engineers, The Wesson Group expanded existing containment dikes on Poplar Island in Maryland's Chesapeake Bay. Through efficient, 24-hour shift work, zero time was lost in 150,000 manhours needed to complete the $55.9 million project. The expansion required 580,000 tons of imported stone, 830,000 cubic yards of sand, and the placement of 330,000 square yards of geotextile.


Scope of Work

  • Open water construction

  • 500,000 tons of imported stone, delivered by barge, ranging from 2,500-lb. armor stone to No. 1 crushed stone

  • On-site relocation of 830,000 CY of sand

  • Placement of 330,000 SY of geotextile

  • 24-hour shift work


Peak Daily Operations

  • 35 TWG craft workers

  • 2,000 tons of stone placed per day

  • 6,500 CY of sand placed per day



The Challenge


This was a critical infrastructure project for the Chesapeake Bay area, providing both a very economical location for disposing of Baltimore shipping channel dredge disposal and an environmental habitat to support local initiatives and habitat enhancement. The project location was on the very exposed northern end of Poplar Island. The Wesson Group adapted construction means and methods to every changing weather, wind, and tide conditions in order to maintain the high levels of quality control required by the Army Corp.



The Result


Our innovative approaches for stone placement, grade control, and survey technology, as well as our continuous pursuit for value engineering resulted in minimizing material usage and reducing schedule impacts for the project. The result was a cost savings to the owner of approximately $6M.

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