How Alaska fixed its earthquake-shattered roads in just days

[longknife]

The picture of the repaired road is amazing @ How Alaska fixed its earthquake-shattered roads in just days is amazing. Shame I can’t paste and copy it here.

A small sample of it.

Working 24/7, they cleared away the broken asphalt, saving it to be melted down at a later date. Then, crews with heavy equipment began digging out water-saturated sediments that slipped or sunk during the quake. They trucked in or gathered fresh material and compacted it, creating a sturdy earthwork base. Atop that, they placed large rocks, finer gravel, and finally, asphalt.

“Our asphalt plants were all shut down for the winter,” McCarthy says. Thick and tarry, asphalt needs to be heated up from a solid form before it can be spread out in a thick layer to make a road. But Alaska in late fall is bitterly cold, and frozen asphalt can take a week or longer to melt into a sticky, pliable material. Soon after the earthquake struck, owners of asphalt plants switched on their heaters. “We were fortunate that they did that.” McCarthy says. “By the time we’d finished the earthworks, the asphalt plants were ready to go.”


Isn’t it amazing what can be done when one is prepared for it?

 

[dannyboys]

The picture of the repaired road is amazing @ How Alaska fixed its earthquake-shattered roads in just days is amazing. Shame I can’t paste and copy it here.

A small sample of it.

Working 24/7, they cleared away the broken asphalt, saving it to be melted down at a later date. Then, crews with heavy equipment began digging out water-saturated sediments that slipped or sunk during the quake. They trucked in or gathered fresh material and compacted it, creating a sturdy earthwork base. Atop that, they placed large rocks, finer gravel, and finally, asphalt.

“Our asphalt plants were all shut down for the winter,” McCarthy says. Thick and tarry, asphalt needs to be heated up from a solid form before it can be spread out in a thick layer to make a road. But Alaska in late fall is bitterly cold, and frozen asphalt can take a week or longer to melt into a sticky, pliable material. Soon after the earthquake struck, owners of asphalt plants switched on their heaters. “We were fortunate that they did that.” McCarthy says. “By the time we’d finished the earthworks, the asphalt plants were ready to go.”


Isn’t it amazing what can be done when one is prepared for it?

How many LIB snowflakes protested in front of the asphalt plants?
You all know where tar comes from right? LOL!

 

[Claudette]

Outstanding.

 

[Pilot1]

Drill baby drill!

 

[EverCurious]

Our contracted workers are pretty damned awesome. They've fixed nearly every road in like a week. We're very happy with them all.

 

[martybegan]

The picture of the repaired road is amazing @ How Alaska fixed its earthquake-shattered roads in just days is amazing. Shame I can’t paste and copy it here.

A small sample of it.

Working 24/7, they cleared away the broken asphalt, saving it to be melted down at a later date. Then, crews with heavy equipment began digging out water-saturated sediments that slipped or sunk during the quake. They trucked in or gathered fresh material and compacted it, creating a sturdy earthwork base. Atop that, they placed large rocks, finer gravel, and finally, asphalt.

“Our asphalt plants were all shut down for the winter,” McCarthy says. Thick and tarry, asphalt needs to be heated up from a solid form before it can be spread out in a thick layer to make a road. But Alaska in late fall is bitterly cold, and frozen asphalt can take a week or longer to melt into a sticky, pliable material. Soon after the earthquake struck, owners of asphalt plants switched on their heaters. “We were fortunate that they did that.” McCarthy says. “By the time we’d finished the earthworks, the asphalt plants were ready to go.”


Isn’t it amazing what can be done when one is prepared for it?

I don't even want to think how long it would take to do this in NYC.

Just getting the proper permits would take 3 months.

 

[EverCurious]

I don't even want to think how long it would take to do this in NYC.

Just getting the proper permits would take 3 months.

Wouldn't permitting be sidelined during national disasters?

Though to be fair, up here there's not a lot of permitting, we're pretty libertarian/constitutionalist/wild west. We do our own electrical, plumbing, natural gas, etc.

 

[EverCurious]

BTW for anyone curious, the pictures are of the Mirror Lake off ramps (both sides of the highway there collapsed)

 

[Claudette]

I don't even want to think how long it would take to do this in NYC.

Just getting the proper permits would take 3 months.

Wouldn't permitting be sidelined during national disasters?

Though to be fair, up here there's not a lot of permitting, we're pretty libertarian/constitutionalist/wild west. We do our own electrical, plumbing, natural gas, etc.

Yup. I remember when they had that big quake in California. They set aside all regs and let the companies that could do the work have at it.

Those companies hauled ass and got the work done in far less time than they would have if they had to follow the rules and regs.

 

[martybegan]

I don't even want to think how long it would take to do this in NYC.

Just getting the proper permits would take 3 months.

Wouldn't permitting be sidelined during national disasters?

Though to be fair, up here there's not a lot of permitting, we're pretty libertarian/constitutionalist/wild west. We do our own electrical, plumbing, natural gas, etc.

You would be surprised.

At best the permits would be expedited, so you would only have to wait 3 weeks instead of 3 months.

 

[Shrimpbox]

I hope Alaska isn’t the last place where American can do, and let’s get er done attitude prevails but what a great story. This is what made our country great and in too many places in the lower 48 it is an endangered species or worse, it is a plague to be eradicated.

 

[EverCurious]

This is from the DoT FB (Video of the damage and repair work in Anchorage [Minnesota off ramp], Eagle River's Briggs Bride, and Mirror Lake) -

(I'll find the one of Vine in Wasilla if I can - it's also fixed)

 

[EverCurious]

I don't even want to think how long it would take to do this in NYC.

Just getting the proper permits would take 3 months.

Wouldn't permitting be sidelined during national disasters?

Though to be fair, up here there's not a lot of permitting, we're pretty libertarian/constitutionalist/wild west. We do our own electrical, plumbing, natural gas, etc.

You would be surprised.

At best the permits would be expedited, so you would only have to wait 3 weeks instead of 3 months.

heh well that didn't happen up here, they got started on fixing these roads literally the same day (Nov 30)

 

[EverCurious]

I hope Alaska isn’t the last place where American can do, and let’s get er done attitude prevails but what a great story. This is what made our country great and in too many places in the lower 48 it is an endangered species or worse, it is a plague to be eradicated.

Well I have always said that it's a completely different country up here. Within minutes of the quake everyone was out checking on their neighbors, by the end of the day every police man, fire man, and national guardsman was on the streets helping and repairing. I think we had one case of looting a store with a broken window - dude's in jail now. So far (last count) there were a grand total of 19 families displaced and 2,600 have applied for aid to repair damage to their homes/businesses.

 

[EverCurious]

Here's Vine Road: Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities