Avoiding flood problems at existing a dock terminal while receiving more than $13 million in grant funding

C. Reiss Superior Dock Redevelopment

With increasing water levels causing annual flooding at Minnesota’s Duluth Port, C. Reiss Company needed to relocate its shipping operations to Superior, Wisconsin. The facility in Superior had been unused for the last 30 years and much of it needed to be rehabilitated—our team was there to help.

We completed natural resources inventories for the site as well as complex wetland and waterway permitting. This included wetland filling, stormwater pond construction, sea wall repair, dredging, an artificial wetland exemption request, construction site notice of intent permitting, and cultural and endangered resources reviews. We also performed habitat assessments for the state-threatened seaside crowfoot—a native plant that grows in brackish water. Following our technical work, our North America Funding Program team researched, identified, and evaluated federal and state grant programs. This work culminated in developing a funding source matrix complete with 16 programs and a funding strategy of the top four programs to pursue. The total cost of the dock rehabilitation and landside improvements totaled $17.3 million.

In partnership with the Superior Port Authority and C Reiss, we assisted with successful funding applications totaling $13 million in grants from the Maritime Administration’s Port Infrastructure Development Program, Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s Harbor Assistance Program (two), and the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Great Lakes Legacy Act. As a result, we’ve been able to complete design plans for the total redevelopment of the site including civil and dredging construction plans.

Upon completion, C. Reiss will transfer operations from their current impacted site to the newly redeveloped Superior site, ultimately setting up the dock for years of use and expansion.