Teton Pass Landslide

[AztecAlien]

This is crazy. The impact of traffic over an active pass looks like it's taken its toll. Crews were trying to patch the cracks before the landslide. The summer traffic in the surrounding areas is going to be a mess with people trying to get to work and two National Parks. 

https://wyofile.com/landslide-destroys-section-of-vital-highway-over-teton-pass/

 

 

 

 

 

[Nevada Convert]

On 6/9/2024 at 10:17 AM, AztecAlien said:

This is crazy. The impact of traffic over an active pass looks like it's taken its toll. Crews were trying to patch the cracks before the landslide. The summer traffic in the surrounding areas is going to be a mess with people trying to get to work and two National Parks. 

https://wyofile.com/landslide-destroys-section-of-vital-highway-over-teton-pass/

 

My 2 cents as a civil engineer is that it’s going to cost a lot to fix that. Duh! Without having a soils report to check out, I’ll assume worst case. The first thing they obviously need to do is stabilize the slide so it doesn’t get worse. Then they can open one dirt lane and flag people through until they decide on the permanent fix.

This kind of highway fix isn’t in my area, but you probably want some kind of steep sloped solid heavy duty gravity retaining walls anchored on some deep piles that get down to solid rock. 

Or use something like this:

[WYO1016]

On 6/9/2024 at 11:17 AM, AztecAlien said:

This is crazy. The impact of traffic over an active pass looks like it's taken its toll. Crews were trying to patch the cracks before the landslide. The summer traffic in the surrounding areas is going to be a mess with people trying to get to work and two National Parks. 

https://wyofile.com/landslide-destroys-section-of-vital-highway-over-teton-pass/

 

 

 

 

 

It's a bad deal for sure. Not the first time WyDOT has had to rebuild a pass road after a landslide in the area, though, so they've got a blueprint to go off of. I wouldn't expect it to be done before October.

[Nevada Convert]

There’s a lot of different methods and techniques that could be used to fix this, but a really good project manager with slide experience needs to quickly send out RFP’s for engineering and construction. And while that’s going on he/she needs to determine what the balance of cost and schedule constraints will be.

Obviously, a schedule driven project is going to cost more. Do you add damages to the contract if late? It depends. The minute you add damages for late delivery, for example, all the bidders are going to buy expensive insurance to cover that risk and add it to their bid. So you just created higher bids for yourself. Is it worth it? Sometimes. 

I was designing a 138kV line that Duke Energy needed for their gas power generation site expansion up near Greeley, CO, and every day I was late would cost my company $1 million in damages. I designed a 138kV substation in Vegas with another guy that was going to power the new Mandalay Bay Convention Center back then. We had to have our design construction books done by June 1st, or the convention center would’ve sat there for 6 months with no power and millions in lost revenue. You can only do power construction during the 6-7 coolest months of the year.