HWY 406 - WELLAND CANAL, ONTARIO
PROJECT - HIGHWAY 406 ROAD WORK / BARGE DRILLING
An environmental drilling and geotechnical drilling project focused on the constuction of doubling the Hwy 406. This project became a four month long contract for Determination Drilling for the Ministry of Transportation, this site included the truck mount rig on the highway with our own road safety crews, full lane closures with a crash truck, and near railroad tracks that were active. Safety records and proper precautions were taken as encountered. Off road locations with difficult terrain including massive grass berms, ditches, forest and marsh lands, were located with our track machine, capable of reaching any borehole location.
On the roads and fields, auger drilling included soil sampling with 2' split spoons, every 2.5' as well as shelby tube samples and shear test sampling in soft grey clays, found at an average of 35', this soil remains until bedrock which we then did diamond core drilling and took core samples, starting at average depths of 200’. Core samples taken were basically limestone rock, tested for piles placed into bedrock for construction of bridges.
Soil and rock investigation, in the Welland canal and river, was needed to further investigate bridge assessments. Our crew had to undertake barge drilling. The process involved lowering about 40'-60' of auger through the water, then auger drilling the bottom of the river bed to bedrock. Diamond core drilling was done, retrieving bedrock core samples beneath the sediments of the Welland Canal. After successful completion of all 4 under water boreholes, Determination Drilling gained further experience in our barge drilling capabilties.