In just 13 days, West Virginia Division of Highways (WVDOH) drilling and construction crews built a 500-foot piling wall along Airport Road in Charleston to fix an old slip.
When WVDOH hires contractors to drill holes and sink pilings for retaining walls, we figure on contractors being able to drill four holes and day and sink four pilings. But WVDOH crews on Airport Road more than doubled that figure, sinking 89 pilings in 13 days.
“We finished this faster than anyone thought possible,” said WVDOH District 1 Manager Arlie Matney.
“We averaged nine holes a day,” Matney said. “We had a couple of days where we drilled 11 holes a day.”
Over the past few years, WVDOH has invested in four drills and trained our work crews to use them. A drilling crew from District 10 in southern West Virginia brought up their drill for the work on Airport Road, with help from construction crews from District 1 in Kanawha and surrounding counties.
“It worked like they had been together a long time,” Matney said.
Contractors aren’t always available when WVDOH needs them. WVDOH drilling crews don't take the place of contractors, but give us additional options for getting needed work done quickly.
Slip repair along Airport Road has been in the works for some time. Working together with Gov. Justice and airport officials, WVDOH used Industrial Access Grant funding to pay for the slip repairs.