July 30, 2020
On July 29, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized several changes to the regulations for coal combustion residuals, known as CCR or coal ash, to implement the court’s vacatur of certain closure requirements as well as adding provisions that enhance the public’s access to information about the management of coal ash at electric utilities. …
June 1, 2020
Compressor station gravel pad on soft subgrade By Sanat Pokharel, Timothy Yii, Marc Breault and Meisam Norouzi Infrastructure development in natural resources rich Alberta, Canada, often encounters very soft ground conditions that pose several construction and sustainability challenges to transportation infrastructure, such as roads, rails and pipelines. As the conventional construction practices may not always …
April 1, 2020
By Paul C. Frankenberger and Robert Lozano This article will focus on a geosynthetic strip mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) wall case study using discrete geosynthetic strips with large precast facing panels (Figure 1), an innovation of the original MSE invention. The system is the Highway Innovative Technology Evaluation Center/National Transportation Product Evaluation Program reviewed GeoMega …
February 1, 2020
Design, construction and fire damage mitigation By Nathan M. Lichty, Stephan M. Gale and Timothy P. Bendell Demolition of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome stadium in Minneapolis, Minn., occurred in 2014 and subsequent construction of U.S. Bank Stadium (Figure 1), the home of the Minnesota Vikings and host of the 2018 Super Bowl, occurred between …
November 13, 2019
Expansion: it’s a win for communities when roads reach out and connect people to business, resources and formerly rural areas. But another form of expansion—soil that expands when water is added and shrinks when it dries out—can thwart this progress by making it hard to economically build and maintain long-lasting roads. “Expansive soil” is in …
October 1, 2019
By Joe Royer, Kurt Chirbas and Ziad Mazboudi The City of Laguna Niguel in Orange County, Calif., has its origins in the Rancho Niguel Mexican land grant, acquired in 1959 by the Laguna Niguel Corp. to develop one of California’s first master-planned communities, which has become predominantly a bedroom community. The city encompasses a total …
By Anna M. Saindon Coal ash pond closures often face unique challenges due to location, available borrow soils and construction constraints. These challenges can lead to alternative methods of closure to comply with Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Subtitle D and coal combustion residuals (CCR) regulations. This article summarizes the construction of the first …
September 30, 2019
By Laura Carbone, Ole Syllwasschy and Lilma Schimmel In the past, the Soviet-German stock company Wismut carried out an intensive uranium mining operation resulting in a large amount of polluted tailings containing daughter nuclides of uranium (Koß 1997) that were released into industrial sediment ponds (named IAA). The tailings “Pond 4” was built in 1957 …
August 1, 2019
By Paul C. O’Malley, José L. Urrutia and Don DiGuilio The two projects (confidential client) are industrial sites consisting of coal ash and by-product sludge located in the southeastern United States. The projects included 70 and 67 acres (28 and 27 ha) in closure areas, and the waste source consisted of industrial sludge with a …
By John Heap and Chris Kelsey The active site work for the Palos Verdes Reservoir’s substantial update began in late 2016, advanced primarily throughout 2018 and concluded in the second quarter of 2019 with the filling of the reservoir. The project was immense for everyone involved, and with that has come the expected excitement, challenges …
