The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) has announced the start of construction activities on its Suncook River stabilization and infrastructure protection project. The NHDES-led project being undertaken in partnership with the New Hampshire Department of Transportation.
The Mother’s Day Flood of 2006 caused the Suncook River to create a new channel, shortening the length of the Suncook River and thus threatening the structural integrity of the bridge footings and damaging adjacent agricultural fields.
According to Nick Nelson, Fluvial Geomorphologist and Project Manager for the project design firm Inter-Fluve, “the primary goal for this project is reducing the likelihood of erosion impacts to critical bridge infrastructure.” Nelson explains that the selected design alternative of “replacing the bridge or building valley-spanning nature-like grade controls is a cost-effective combination of large rock, biodegradable fabric, and plantings to stabilize the channel bed and banks.”
Most construction activities are expected to continue through the end of the year, with seeding and planting to occur during the spring of 2018.
