Detroit is best known for pioneering the mass-produced automobile, but its role as an incubator for transportation innovation extends to the roads themselves.  Over a century ago, Woodward Avenue became the country’s first paved road and hosted the first tri-color traffic signal.  Now, another major metro Detroit thoroughfare—Mound Road—is poised to build on that legacy.  Our team at NTH is excited to be part of this effort.

The Mound Road corridor famously supported tank manufacturing (the “Arsenal of Democracy”) during World War II and has since evolved into a major hub for national automotive, defense, aerospace, and advanced manufacturing industries.  Recognizing its economic importance, the U.S. Department of Transportation has issued an INFRA (Infrastructure For Rebuilding America) grant for its reconstruction of the nine-mile segment north of Interstate 696.  The design-build project, led by HNTB, will not only repair aging pavement but also modernize the route.  It is anticipated to include intelligent sensors and signals; pedestrian, cycling, and transit facilities; roadway widening and traffic flow improvements; as well as landscaping, lighting, and beautification.

Uniquely, it will also incorporate recommendations from an ‘Innovation Council’ of mobility experts to ensure that emerging autonomous and connected vehicle technologies are considered—and proactively planned for—during design.  In a recent article for Driven, Macomb County Department of Roads planning director John Crumm explained, "The overall goal of the project is to access the technologies that are there right now, that are low-hanging, but planning flexibly enough and far enough ahead that when we get to fully autonomous vehicles, that corridor can be converted over at minimal cost."

Mound Road currently carries more than 70,000 vehicles daily including more than 47,000 commuting employees as well as trucks supplying ‘just-in-time’ freight deliveries to manufacturing plants.  NTH is serving on behalf of the Macomb County Department of Roads preliminary engineering team to collect and depict subsurface utility information along this very busy route.  NTH’s investigative capabilities include state-of-the-art geophysical prospecting and non-destructive vacuum excavation techniques.  The data will be used to reduce areas of potential utility conflict in advance of the final design, ultimately reducing costs as well as construction impacts to local businesses and residents.

Visit Innovate Mound for more about this project, and learn more about NTH’s Transportation market and Subsurface Utility Engineering (SUE) services on our website.

Thank you to everyone who attended our latest PFAS Webinar. There were several questions that were asked during the webinar - some that were answered and some that we were not able to get to. Rick Burns, one of our speakers, has answered these questions that you will find below. 
​

1. Has the discussion with MPART about treatment and testing of PFAS chemicals discussed financial considerations since neither WRRFs nor landfills are generators? Is there thought about alternative funding for treatment or linking sources or generators to treatment costs?
   Answer: This is an excellent question.  The short answer is no.  So far, our discussions with MPART/EGLE have focused on source reduction. Treatment funding sources is a planned discussion topic for future meetings.
   
   
2. Any efforts underway to better understand air emissions in landfill gas, potential gas to energy plant emissions and leachate evaporators?
   Answer: As of now, based on my knowledge  of recent developments, the impact of PFAS emissions from LFG WTE and evaporators is at the beginning stages. I am not directly involved with these discussions, which are likely to expand with MPART/EGLE/MWRA soon.  
   
   
3. You stated that the Rule 57 numbers are drinking water standards, but they are not. 
   Answer: Correct. Rule 57 PFAS HMCV are applicable to surface waters used as a source of drinking water or not.
   
   
4. Do we know how much PFAS is in the WRRF residuals?
   Answer: Biosolids PFAS concentrations vary  at individual WRRFs statewide, ranging from ppt to ppb values, depending if influent is "industrially-impacted".  MPART, working with AECOM, published a summary biosolids report a few weeks ago. Here is the link: https://www.michigan.gov/documents/egle/wrd-pfas-initiatives_691391_7.pdf. 
   
   
5. Much of Michigan is rural and the homes use septic systems.  Have you heard if EGLE is considering investigating private septic fields? 
   Answer: To my knowledge, MPART has not yet initiated a study regarding PFAS septic field discharge, which is needed to fully understand the overall mass balance and fate-and-transport of these compounds in the environment.  The results of such an investigation would be both interesting and useful.
   
   
6. You said that WRRFs do not create PFAS, they only receive them, but earlier you said that more go out than come in, due to conversions occurring in the treatment process.  Is there an understanding of how those conversions occur and how to potentially prevent them? 
   Answer: As discussed, the total WRRF PFAS mass balance is under-studied and not fully-understood.  In cases where effluent PFAS concentrations exceed influent concentrations, current evidence suggest transformation of PFAS cogeners and precursor compounds to PFOA and PFOS, both "terminal" products, within the WRRF system.   Another explanation is residual PFAS concentrations with the WRRF piping/equipment that is released randomly or a result of changes in the treatment system that allows desoption of PFAS from these infrastructure components and/or biosolds.
   
   
7. What are landfills doing to look at their upgradient sources?
   Answer:  If you are referring to refuse accepted for disposal, each landfill is implementing source reduction procedures that include PFAS waste isolation, load rejection, including biosolids and plating sludge wastes that have elevated PFAS concentrations.
   
   
8. Seems to me reduction of PFOS and PFOA at the source would be money better spent.
   Answer:  I agree with you; however, except for industries that use PFAS in manufacturing processes (e.g., platers and AFFF producers) who are able to replace our substitute componds, it is very difficult to remove all impacted materials from the waste stream (landfills and WRRFs).   Also, PFAS removal systems create concentrated residues, exacerbating the problem.  PFOA and PFOS are two of nearly 5,000 PFAS compounds with a plethora of other emerging contaminants on the regulatory horizon that may be best managed economically  using existing, centralized treatment systems as opposed to individual systems that will require upgrades to handle future demands.

Below are the slides from our presentation for download.

If you’ve visited your favorite Great Lakes beach, shoreline fishing location or a local marina lately, you may have noticed some changes.  Lake levels never saw their typical decline last fall, setting the stage for record high water levels this spring.  Despite record outflows into the St. Lawrence Seaway, the Great Lakes remain more than full.
According to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers data for Belle Isle, water levels in southeast Michigan reached their peak just before Memorial Day. The current forecast for Lake St. Clair and the Detroit River is for a gradual decline over the summer months.  Lakefront communities on the west side of the state will continue to experience high water through the summer, peaking around July.

The impacts are not only recreational; an abundance of critical infrastructure—public and private—resides along the Great Lakes.  These include power plants, drinking water intakes, and municipal sewage systems as well as privately owned industrial sites and marine terminals.  Even when inland flooding and erosion do not threaten occupied structures, they can expose underground utilities, wash out pavements, and cause sinkholes and slope failures. After the recent shoreline failure at Detroit Bulk Storage in late November 2019, the City of Detroit stepped up inspections the shoreline within the City including existing docks and seawalls and initiated enforcement of the maintenance requirements in city code.  Citations and fines have been issued as a result.

Because natural shorelines undergo a dynamic process of erosion and deposition, resilient designs are needed to adapt to these changes.  Appropriate solutions can help private owners and municipalities alike adapt to the changing lake levels, avoid property damage, and reduce maintenance and repair costs. NTH has extensive experience with shoreline projects on the Great Lakes and Detroit River.  We have ongoing relationships with divers and seawall contractors and can assist with evaluation of current conditions and rehabilitation of existing structures.

​Even though the current levels have broken records, they may not be an anomaly.  Although lake levels were low several years ago, water levels have significantly exceeded the historical averages for the last three years due to increasingly intense storms and rainfall.  Shoreline protection has never been more important, and investments made now – both private and public -- will protect valuable recreational, commercial and industrial assets into the future.