 The Erosion Control Research and Training Center was originally
created under a research project administered by the Illinois Center
for Transportation, with in-kind contributions from the Illinois
Land Improvement Contractor's Association.The Illinois Center for
Transportation is an innovative partnership between the Illinois
Department of Transportation and the University of Illinois.
Professor Imad L. Al-Qadi of the university's Civil and
Environmental Engineering Department serves as director. The
Illinois Center for Transportation administers the Department of
Transportation's contract research program, which is funded using
federal money IDOT receives for state planning and research.
Prasanta Kalita, an agricultural engineer with the university's
Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, or ABE, was a
co-investigator for the project, along with Niels Svendsen and Heidi
Howard of the Construction Engineering Research Laboratory of the
Army Corps of Engineers. The team has received continued funding
from IDOT for additional studies.
An earthen berm 300 feet long and 13 feet high is the focal point
of the research and training facility, located on the ABE research
farm south of the Urbana campus. The berm's slope is 3-to-1 on the
front side and 2-to-1 on the back. Three ditches with check dams at
the base of the berm drain into a small pond. One purpose of the
site is to evaluate products used for erosion and sediment control.
"IDOT and other agencies are major partners on erosion and
sediment control products, and they need to know which products are
the most durable, which do the best job and what the best management
practices are," Kalita said.
To that end, two graduate students, Joseph Monical and Carlos
Bulnes, are working on a variety of projects, such as evaluating
vegetation cover, studying erosion control blankets and sediment
control check dams.
Monical, a Ph.D. student, explained: "We started a vegetation
demonstration study about 18 months ago where we looked at different
types of vegetation cover -- compost, mulch and hydro-mulch -- on
slope seed conditions. We also had an uncovered control plot. Now we
are expanding that study to compare those to erosion control
blankets to see how each reduces erosion and sediment runoff that
occurs under natural conditions."
Bulnes, a master's student, has developed a protocol to test
different types of check dams by subjecting them to a sequence of
different flows, then taking sediment samples and suspended samples
before and after the check dams.
"We've installed two ditch inlets in one of the channels," said
Monical, "so we're also evaluating different types of inlet
protection practices and products that IDOT contractors currently
use."
Monical said there are plans to install a flared-end inlet for
study and evaluation, and they will work with IDOT to look at curb
and gutter inlet protection at the Pesotum rest area on Interstate
57.
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Monical is the teaching assistant for a class Kalita teaches, ABE
456, and undergraduate students in that class have been working with
them to develop inlet testing protocols for the different inlet
studies and doing a literature review.
Kalita said the Department of Transportation, the Illinois Land
Improvement Contractor's Association and other agencies will also
use the facility to train their engineers and technicians to install
effective erosion control practices and develop stormwater
management plans. Training programs were developed under the
original Illinois Center for Transportation research project funded
by IDOT.
"We have developed one class and are working on two more classes
to provide this training," said Kalita. "The first class is our
‘fundamentals' of erosion and sediment control practices. We
initially offered the class and opened it to 50 people, but the
demand was so great we expanded it to 65, and there was still a
waiting list. So it has been tested, and it was very popular."
Professionals from several different organizations -- federal,
state, county, local and private -- have attended the class. The
class on fundamentals will be offered six more times between May and
October.
The second class focuses on design and the third on installation,
maintenance and inspection. These classes will be offered beginning
in January 2013. Participants will be required to complete the first
class in fundamentals before enrolling in the second or third class.
Kalita said IDOT is currently drafting a policy that will require
this training for engineering consultants and contractors who work
with the agency. Specific requirements for training will vary
according to the guidelines, and the training will be current for a
period of five years. The policy is tentatively scheduled for
implementation on Jan. 1, 2015.
"I have been working with a very talented group of IDOT
professionals who provide regular guidance and feedback on the
facility as well as the training programs," said Kalita. "Thomas
Ripka of IDOT is the chair of the technical review committee that
has helped shape this training facility and helped in the
development of classes. This project is a great example of
professionals from diverse backgrounds working together for a common
cause.
"I think this is a tremendous facility, not only for the
university, but for the whole state of Illinois," he concluded. "It
is an excellent example of the university's mission of research,
teaching and outreach."
[Text from
news release received from the University of Illinois,
Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering] |
