13 thoughts on “Rat Creek Boring Action

  1. I have no insight or experiance. W is the fall back guy for informal information. Can someone explain why they did not simply lay the culvert and just bury it at the time of filling the canyon with the fill. Having a hard time understanding this procedure and process.

  2. This is probably the “best” and “cheapest” solution since they chose a structural fill over a bridge. I guessed that they might do this. It will be interesting to see what the inlet and outlet look like. I’m curious about how they deal with the voids between the hole and the pipe, and what the engineering calcs came up with for cutting a tunnel that big out of the bottom of a tall, stand-alone, structural fill. Unless they are going down to competent rock–but even then, how competent is the rock. Also, steel in a marine environment (salt-spray, etc.)?

    I, too, am amazed at the technical prowess a skill of the engineers and machinery; but Nature bats last. For example, what happens when there is ground movement and weathering? I wonder how much weight speed of construction (if significant) and cost (if significantly cheaper) were given over a pre-fab or other bridge? And what were the savings in time and money (if significant)?

  3. Interesting images, those 10′ diameter pipe sections make tractors and equipment look small, that’s not boring…

  4. Birdman, the reason for boring after the fact is, I believe, because it is a compacted fill roadbed. To fully consolidate the fill, no big springy tubes could be laid in as they went. The steel flexes, fines get under the pipe and it tries to unbury itself like a car tire unburies itself. They may grout it as they create the inlet and outlet.

  5. TOMO & W: Do they bore all the way thru, then install the steel pipe on the way back out?
    I can’t see how they’d get sections of pipe past previous ones if they install them going in.

  6. Or they shove the entire legnth one section at a time braced by that back-stop?

  7. We live in an engineered world where almost all material properties are known and can be computer modeled and simulated, this road repair is trivial, it doesn’t matter what the weather does to the coast we can terrafom it anyway we desire, we could use PNE (peaceful nuclear explosions) if required, we have been simulating nuclear weapons since the test ban in 1992 and with current and future A.I have no issue shaping planets on or off world.

    ALL SOLUTIONS ARE KNOWN, The only thing keeping the world we live in from peace and prosperity is Theocracy powered by the politicians and governments that relentlessly and purposely punish through closed circle class conflict.

    https://materialsproject.org/

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