Is Cook County running out of sand?

Across the world sand used for concrete and other types of construction is, in many places, in short supply. And in Cook County, sand used for building purposes can be hard to come by.

To build the Gitchi-Gami State trail bike trail extension on lower Highway 61 from the Cut Face State wayside to meet up with the current finished path, a distance of about 3.5 miles, sand was trucked from Brimson, Minnesota, a round trip of four hours. That’s a lot of wear and tear on the trucks, roads, and the expense of fuel was great.

Duane Hill, MnDOT District Engineer/District One said, “I would say that there are many areas of the state where it is difficult to find local construction materials that meet specific specifications for projects, whether it be sand, gravel, aggregate for asphalt pavement, aggregate components for concrete or rip rap. MnDOT used to prospect for gravel resources and develop material sources that could be made available for contractors on projects. MnDOT does not develop material sources very often anymore. Contractors are more efficient at developing material sources for their work and can provide materials at the lowest cost when projects are competitively bid. Additionally, it is a challenge to develop new gravel sources due to the environmental regulations that must be followed”.

Tom Dwyer, owner of Isak Hansen said the contractor

(KGM) never called his business about delivering sand to the Gitchi-Gami project. He said if KGM owned the pit in Brimson, the cost of materials may offset the trucking and he added, “It is possible to have sand/gravel requirements that are tough to meet in quantity and price.”

As far as gravel, Dwyer said Isak Hansen has plenty of that resource. “We are not running out of gravel. In fact, we just got approval to move into our next 80-acre section. We are supplying the materials for the Gitchi-Gami trail section Northland Constructors is doing in Tofte right now. We have never been as busy as we are this summer. “My big issue now is the drought and access to water to wash the sand and rock. The DNR has restricted my access until we get more rain. Hopefully I have enough water stored in settling/retention ponds to pull back in if I need.”

Getting back to the issue of sand, how can there be a short supply of something as limitless as sand?

Well, dessert sand, of which there is plenty, is pretty much useless to construction projects because the sand is smooth and round, the subject of years of erosion and wind.

Instead, sand that comes from riverbeds and beaches has angles and corners that are needed to bind concrete.

Every year it is estimated that the world uses 50 billion tons of sand, twice as much produced by every river in the world.

Concrete is made of 10 percent cement (lime and Clay) 15 percent water and 75 percent sand. And average home build uses 200 tons of sand, a hospital 3,000 tons and a mile of highway required 15,000 tons.

China, with 102 cities of over one million people, uses the most sand. Between 2011 and 2013, China used more concrete that the US did in the entire 20th century.

Sand it seems, as it runs through the hourglass, could be running out.