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My foreman in New Orleans last week argued we should dredge deeper than the spec, saying 'more is better for the channel', but our engineer says that's a fast track to bank collapse.
So, who's right here, and what's the deepest you've gone past the plan without causing a slide?
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reese_thompson746mo ago
Heard a story from a buddy working a river job up in Missouri. His crew got pushy about digging just a couple extra feet "for good measure" on a bend. They argued with the engineer for a solid hour. Well, they did it, and not 48 hours later a whole section of the bank slumped right into their new channel. Cost a fortune in time and repair. That engineer in your post is spot on. More is definitely not better if it wrecks the ground holding everything up.
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nelson.gavin4mo ago
Bet that engineer's PE stamp was sweating bullets for a week straight after.
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val3236mo ago
Yeah, that "for good measure" thinking is exactly the problem. It's not about being lazy, it's about not messing with the balance of the whole site. A couple feet can change the pressure on wet soil completely. That slump was just the ground finding its new, weaker shape.
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