Since 1986, Taylor Engineering has worked with the Florida Inland Navigation District (FIND), the Jacksonville District U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), and local governments; and conducted public workshops with citizens' groups to prepare and implement long-term dredged material management plans for the 370 miles of federal navigation channel for Florida's Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (ICWW). In 1997, FIND demonstrated its satisfaction with the company's work quality by retaining company president, Dr. R. Bruce Taylor, as its District Engineer.
The primary program objective is to locate, obtain, design, and permit dredged material management sites capable of handling projected 50-year maintenance dredging requirements in 12 Florida counties. Historic USACE engineering plans and records are analyzed to establish logical channel reaches and associated 50-year dredging requirements. Candidate management sites for each reach are then identified and ranked via color infrared and black and white aerial photography, soils and wetland inventory maps, and on-site inspections. Various management options are then evaluated to arrive at a management concept that represents the most feasible combination of engineering, operational, archeological/cultural, environmental, and cost considerations. At each site, Taylor Engineering obtains boundary, right-of-way, and topographic surveys. Taylor Engineering works with local survey companies to plan and execute the surveys, then reviews and uses the survey information to design each management facility.
During planning and construction, each facility is custom designed and built with on-site material. Design aspects of each dredged material management area include a field investigation and site visit, geotechnical investigation, wetland and wildlife impact assessment, archeological and historical area impact assessment, dredged material quantity/quality analysis, embankment design (i.e., slope stability/seepage analysis), site drainage design, sediment and erosion control measures, access road design, control/measurement of groundwater impacts, design of water control structures for operations and site drainage, and on-site mitigation. Final design documents include construction plans, specifications, bid quantities, engineering cost estimates, and complete contract documents.
To acknowledge Taylor Engineering's work for the Florida Inland Navigation District, the Florida Engineering Society presented Dr. Taylor its 1997 award for Outstanding Technical Achievement. In 1998, he received the Northeast Florida Engineer of the Year award for regional engineering societies and the statewide Engineer of the Year award from the Florida Engineering Society. In 1999, he received the National Society of Professional Engineers Award.
