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Soft Engineering Practice Per Foot Costs
The Southeast Michigan RC&D Council completed four soft engineering demonstration projects at four different locations in Southeast Michigan between August, 2001 and December, 2005. The projects were done through a section 319 Clean Water Act grant from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.
A total of 800 linear feet of practices were demonstrated, including: brush mattress, fascines, live staking, and vegetated geo-grid. The average per foot cost to complete these practices was $160.75/foot ($128,601 divided by 800 feet).
Costs used to calculate the per foot rate were:
| COST CATEGORY | COST
(grant funds & local match) |
|---|
| Labor (volunteer labor, equipment operators, supervisors, engineer/project manager) | $ 63,870.00 |
| Equipment (dump trucks, pick-up trucks, backhoe/bobcat & trailers) | $ 27,284.00 |
| Tools (chain saw, rakes, shovels, other hand tools) | $ 2,892.00 |
| Materials (rocktoe stone, geotextiles, plant materials, seed, erosion control mat, twine, etc.) | $ 34,000.00 |
| Permits | $ 555.00 |
| Total Cost (4 projects, 800 feet of practices): | $128,601.00 |
The average cost rate included a substantial portion of local match dollars and volunteer labor provided by project participants who were interested in learning about soft engineering techniques in order to implement them in other locations.
This per foot cost should be used only as an estimate, as costs will vary in each location.
Similar cost data is available for another project completed at Ford Field Park, Dearborn, Michigan in 2000. See the project description at the American Heritage Rivers web site.
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