Civil Engineering and Construction - Introduction
Highway 26 In Calaveras County, CA
Client: Caltrans
Main Contractor: Thunder Mountain Enterprises
Project Specification:
During the heavy rainy season of 2004/2005 a 1:1 cut slope along Highway 26 in Calaveras County, California became saturated creating a shallow slope failure. Caltrans District 10 Maintenance, the department responsible for the repair, considered two possible solutions: Platipus® Anchored Reinforced Grid Solution (ARGS) and Rock Slope protection.
Solution:
The Platipus® ARGS was specified because it was low impact, required only hand-held equipment for installation and provided an instantly attractive finish to the slope. It also meant that there was no need to purchase additional right-of-way or close the lane of the highway making it the most cost effective option. The design included Platipus® S4 ARGS Percussive Driven Earth Anchors (PDEAs) driven through High Performance Turf Reinforcement Matting(HPTRM), on a checkerboard grid pattern, at 5' centers. Thunder Mountain Enterprises, Inc. of Sacramento completed the installation in July of 2005. By early September 2005 vegetation was starting to emerge. Platipus® ARGS with the Geogrid trapped the morning dew providing moisture for the seed germination. Caltrans were particularly impressed by speed and simplicity of the construction eliminating the need for heavy equipment that would have been necessary to install the Rock Slope protection.
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