US Army Corps of Engineers Chicago Dredging Site

At the tip of Lake Michigan sits the small town of East Chicago, home to the Indiana Harbor and Shipping Canal and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE) dredging site. This site is responsible for removing millions of cubic yards of industrial sediment from the canal and preventing contaminated soil from entering Lake Michigan.

USACE needed the ability to decontaminate cars, boats, and other equipment that had come into contact with hazardous water. It also needed to quickly modernize its vehicle maintenance and administrative spaces without being bound by the constraints of traditional government construction.

To meet these needs, USACE used a combination of renovation (for the administrative building and maintenance facility) and new construction (for the decontamination facility), all of which play a crucial role in the continuation of this environmentally sensitive operation.

"Improve Group played a vital role in our success during these upgrades," said USACE Chicago District’s Facility Manager. "Their ability to accelerate our construction and renovation timelines while simplifying the complexities associated with such projects was immensely beneficial. We completed the project in three distinct stages, and each time we were ready for the next phase, we turned to Improve Group because they had earned our trust and consistently prioritized our best interests."