Hash Ridge Road is one of several slip repair projects WVDOH District 2 is repairing in unison. Repairs are also being completed on County Route 1 in Cabell County, West Virginia 49 in Mingo County, and West Virginia 75 and 37 in Wayne County.
As repairs are being designed and moving through steps such as survey work, geotechnical core samples, and design, roads are allowed to remain open where it is safe to do so. This is done for public convenience, with cones and signage to keep drivers safe. Seeing orange cones on the ground also means the site is being monitored.
An earth drill, available through a purchase order contract, will be on site later in the week to drill the deep holes needed to sink steel pilings into the ground to hold the concrete slabs needed to fix the slip. WVDOH's own Disforce crew will be completing the repair once the drilling is complete.
“I don't like to see slides like this, but I like to fix them and get them open for the public,” Thompson said.
Piling walls are among the most aggressive and permanent ways to fix a slip or a slide, but they aren’t the only method. Just like no two mountainsides are alike, no two slips are identical and they can range from a minor issue to something requiring an entire rebuild of a roadway.
“Probably the quickest and easiest way to fix a slip is with shot rock,” said District 1 Manager Arlie Matney, who has 20 years of experience fixing slips and slides.
When repairing a slip with shot rock, as much of the loose material in the slip is possible is first dug out of the hole. Then large rocks are added to shore up the bank. The area is then backfilled and the road surface replaced.
“These repairs can be left for years,” Matney said. “They’re monitored to make sure they don’t slip anymore.”
But sometimes a slip is too big to be repaired with shot rock, or sometimes a shot rock repair keeps slipping. WVDOH may then choose to fix the slip with soil nails.
Soil nails are long steel bolts, 20 or 40 feet long, that can be driven into a hillside to hold back the rock and soil. The soil nails are driven into the hillside until they hit solid rock. The slip is backfilled and the face of the repair sprayed with concrete to tie everything together before the road surface is restored on top of the fill.
The most complicated method of repairing a slip is to install concrete piling retaining walls. “That one takes several groups of people working together,” Matney said.
To install a piling wall, a large drill is brought in to drill holes down into the solid rock, four to six feet apart. The WVDOH currently has two of these drills in the field, and can also hire contractors with drills to assist with piling wall projects.
Once the holes are drilled, massive steel beams are lowered into the holes and set in place with concrete. Four or six-foot sections of concrete wall are then set in place and the slip is backfilled before the road surface is put back. These piling walls may be hundreds of feet long, and are the best way to fix large slips and slides.
The WVDOH may also install micro piling, which is like miniature versions of the piling walls, on shorter stretches of roadside.
But a lot must happen from the time between traffic cones first go down on a slip and a repair is made, said Joe Pack, P.E., WVDOH Deputy State Highway Engineer for Division Operations. WVDOH has purchased two drills for use by our own crews, those are in constant use with scheduling two to three months in advance. Purchase order drilling is used to keep other projects moving along.
On Monday, March 7, 2022, six active piling wall projects were underway around the Mountain State, along with 12 other slip repair projects. The WVDOH recently bought two additional drills for use around the state. Matney said the ability of WVDOH crews to use their own drills has cut costs and increased the ability for state crews to get to slips and slides. Whereas District 1 might ordinarily be able to get to 10 or 12 slips in a year, the ability to use state drills may double that number.
It's all about efficiency. WVDOH works to cover the most ground in the shortest time, by keeping multiple projects moving forward at once.
If you have questions about a specific road, whether it be a slip or slide or anything that puzzles you, WVDOH has employees trained in all parts of the state to answer every citizen question within seven days. The phone number is 1(833)WVROADS, the email is wvroads@wv.gov or citizens can visit transportation.wv.gov and click on "Request Road Work" to fill out a web form. The citizens assistance system is designed to alleviate roadway concerns by keeping residents informed about particular road questions they may have in their areas.
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