Hayward Baker will be the geotechnical contractor for the compaction grouting. The article draws a HORRIBLE comparison between compaction grouting and the ‘top kill’ that BP tried to stop the oil leak in the gulf. Honestly, sometimes reading what the media writes about engineering is a little scary. I’m sure Hayward Baker is thrilled to have their name mixed in there with the most hated company on the planet right now! [Source: Nashville Business Journal via AGC SmartBrief]
Failures
Hayward Baker’s Emergency Sinkhole Repair, US 24, Colorado
Hayward Baker has been working 18-hour days for Colorado DOT to repair a sinkhole on US 24 caused by an abandoned railroad tunnel. The link below takes you to a photo gallery on Hayward Baker’s […]
Failures
Johannasburg Sinkhole Opens after Tunnel Collapse
A 12m long sinkhole opened up on Oxford Road in northern Johannesburg South Africa after a partial tunnel collapse in the Gautrain rail tunnel being constructed underneath the road. Eyewitness accounts say there was a broken water pipe flooding the sinkhole, but no word on which occurred first. The road is expected to be closed for 2 weeks. Gautrain representatives said the tunneling would resume after geotechnical/geological investigations into the collapse are completed, which could take "several weeks". (Photo credit: Werner Beukes, Sapa via News24.com)
Via The Star (Zambia) and News24.com (Johannesburg?)
Press Releases
Nicholson Completes Emergency Work on Indiana’s I-65
PITTSBURGH, PA – Nicholson Construction recently completed emergency repair work to an unstable pier supporting a bridge on INDOT’s Interstate 65. These repairs enabled a 37-mile section of the highway’s northbound lanes to be reopened after a four-week closure.
The highway was in the process of being rehabilitated and widened when the pier was damaged by steel piles driven into the water tight ground below it. The pier began to settle and eventually rotated ten inches.
Nicholson developed a design-build solution that used micropiles to transfer the loads to more stable soils and low-mobility grouting to fill voids and densify the upper subsurface layer.
[Editor] Read on to hear more about Nicholson’s fix of this unstable bridge pier. [/Editor]