Revitalization of a 150-Year-Old Hospital Center: The Spring Grove Campus Utility Upgrades, Site Improvements, and Environmental Remediation
Nick Riley, PE
RK&K
Baltimore, MD
Rummel, Klepper & Kahl (RK&K) worked as a team with the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) and a Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) to produce a fast-tracked design and construction management program that identified nearly $40 million worth of work on the Spring Grove Campus. As part of the Spring Grove Utility Upgrades, Site Improvements, and Environmental Remediation Project, RK&K provided program verification, project matrix prioritization, risk assessment, design, permitting, and construction services. The Spring Grove Campus is a 175-acre facility that was originally founded in 1797 and moved to its current location in 1872 in Catonsville, MD.
The Spring Grove Campus includes the West Branch of Herbert Run (Herbert Run) as well as nine other tributaries covering approximately 11,600 linear feet of stream. The stream valley throughout the project reaches has been severely manipulated by anthropogenic changes in the watershed including floodplain encroachment by development and expansion of the campus facilities, straightening and impoundment of the historic stream channel, implementation of storm drain outfalls without stormwater management (SWM) facilities, construction of a historic rail line along the northwest limits of the campus, construction of I-695 to the northeast, utility construction within the stream valley, and heavy residential development of the watershed.
Using a multi-faceted stream restoration approach, RK&K restored 4,500 LF of stream channels, relocated approximately 4,000 LF of underground utilities, 1,700 LF of storm drain network, consolidated three dilapidated culverts into one crossing, and designed three SWM to facilitate the construction of an integrated stream and floodplain restoration paired with step-pool systems for high gradient reaches. The stream restoration overcame obstacles including 14-ft vertical drops along Herbert Run, exposed bedrock, utilities suspended above the stream, working on and adjacent to a capped landfill, opposition to tree removals from a community organization led by retired foresters, and unforeseeable challenges during construction. Construction started in Spring 2025 with an anticipated completion date of Summer 2027.
Key topics for the presentation include working within a heavily constrained valley, utility and infrastructure protection, watershed-scale planning and prioritization, and community engagement.
About Nick Riley, PE
Nick is a professional engineer at RK&K, with extensive experience in water resources engineering projects in the mid-Atlantic. Nick’s role at RK&K includes project management, fluvial geomorphic assessments, H&H studies, stream restoration and wetland design, E&S design, TMDL and mitigation credit calculations, environmental permitting, and construction oversight.