Spray Lakes Slide Repair
Doublestar Drilling had to mitigate some unique risks
Doublestar Drilling (DSD) was awarded the Spray Lakes
Slide Repair Project by Alberta Transportation in late
May 2018 as prime contractor. Pre-project planning was
critical to ensure all safety risk factors were discovered,
and to allow for a proper and timely execution of the design.
Due to the narrow job site, DSD was required to position all
equipment within a five metre single lane section of the main
access road from Canmore, Alta., to Spray Lakes, Alta. DSD dedi-cated
full time flaggers to control the single lane daily traffic.
As safety is DSD’s top priority, their crews all have relevant
training for working from heights as well as previous expe-rience.
Another safety concern was the risk of fallen debris
since this area is a local hiking and rock-climbing spot. DSD
mitigated this hazard by placing a temporary fence below
the site and completing daily inspections to help ward off any
climbers or hikers from entering the construction area.
GREAT CANADIAN PROJECTS
Crews were equipped with DSD’s TEI HEM 1000 rock drill.
The drill was mounted to a John Deere 350 excavator, allow-ing
the rig to be positioned over the cliff while drilling. The
Manitou Rotating Telehandler 2150, equipped with a special-ized
man basket, was used to assist changing out casing and
tooling as needed.
The slide repair scope of work included installing 77 rock
anchors to lengths of 16 metres, applying a 130-millimetre
base layer of shotcrete and a final application of 190 mm
of shotcrete to the face of the wall. The wall’s design also
included proof testing each rock anchor to 133 per cent of its
design load, which was up to 414 kilonewtons, and building
a new guardrail along the overhang of the highway once the
soil nail testing was complete.
Spray Lakes was an overall huge success and DSD takes
pride in completing unique and challenging projects.
Submitted by Doublestar Drilling
PHOTO COURTESY OF DOUBLESTAR DRILLING
PILING CANADA 33