The I-15 reconstruction project was one of the largest highway construction projects ever performed in Utah covering about 15 miles of the interstate going though Salt Lake City, Utah. The project involved reconstructing the entire freeway during ongoing traffic. Wasatch Constructors, the general contractor and our client, drove more than 18,000 steel pipe piles for 150 new bridges over a period of 4 years starting 1997. PDA Engineering performed all the dynamic pile testing, PDA, for this project.
The Legacy Project involves constructing a completely new highway, part of which crosses through some protected wetlands of the Great Salt Lake. The new highway, which has about 60 bridges founded on pipe piles along its alignment, was started a couple of years ago but was shut down halfway through the project due to environmental protests.
PDA performed all the dynamic pile testing, PDA, and pile inspection services for S&ME on this project before it was shut down. The project is expected to continue in the near future.
This project consisted constructing a new alternate fuel power plant founded on 16” square concrete piles. The project was managed by Bechtel who used Foundation Constructors out of Oakley, CA to drive the piles. PDA Engineering performed static load testing on 4 different piles in compression, tension and lateral loading.
GRW, a joint venture of three large construction companies in Salt Lake City, Utah, took on this relatively large design build project for Utah Department of Transportation. The project involved rebuilding several miles of the 12300 South Street including a massive SPUI overpass bridge over I-15, a rail road bridge and a bridge over the Jordan River. All the bridges were founded on pipe piles, which PDA Engineering tested with the PDA.
PDA Engineering performed extensive dynamic testing of driven steel pipe piles on this project, which consisted of driving over 800 pipe piles for a two story parking garage. Two static load tests were performed initially on the project for correlating with the PDA testing used during the production pile driving.
For this project over 400, 12 inch square concrete piles had to be driven through loose fill and into dense sands. PDA Engineering performed a dynamic pile test program prior to production pile driving in order to determine pile lengths before casting the piles.
The existing bridge leading ND State Route 24 over Lake Sakaneva is currently being replaced by a new 16 pier bridge founded on 36 inch diameter pipe piles. The contractor Fru-Con hired PDA Engineering to perform dynamic Pile testing, PDA during the indicator pile test program before the production pile driving began. Pile testing was performed at each pier on indicator piles driven from a pontoon barge.
This project involved designing a 22 ft tall permanent shotcrete retaining wall using two different methods. The wall was divided into two parts, one which was constructed using soil nails and shotcrete, and the other using tied back sheet piles covered with shotcrete facing. Both parts of the wall were integrated. The latter method was used to speed up the construction process.
PDA designed two very large deep sheet pile cofferdams for this project using a unique waler system. The soils at this location are very soft with high groundwater table making the design and construction of these 25-30 ft deep cofferdams very challenging.
A 40 ft deep sheet pile cofferdam was designed for this project using a standard waling system in soft soils with high groundwater table. The close proximity of existing structures sensitive to settlement required special shoring design and dewatering techniques. Two more closely identical cofferdams were later designed for the same client in nearby locations.
The replacement of an existing 10 ft diameter water pipe placed up on a steep slope of Provo Canyon required extensive soil nailing spanning over 2 years. PDA Engineering performed all soil nail pull out testing, inspections and documentations during the installation period.
Roosevelt Gap Resort is nestled into the ski slopes of Deer Valley ski resort with ski-in and ski-out access. The hotel is cut deep into the steep slopes of a large hillside. The cuts required for the construction of the hotel are up to 70 ft tall in places and protected by soil nails and permanent shotcrete facing. The project was started 3 years ago but construction was halted halfway through the soil nailing due to financing problems. At this point the project has not continued but is expected to do so in the near future. PDA Engineering performed soil nail shoring design of some of these walls including soil nail pull out testing and inspections.