I'm OK with this

kiwimoogle84: Did it sink into the swamp?

It's got huge...tracts o' land.

No singing!

So, I built the highway up again...and IT sank into the bog...but the 3rd highway, that stayed.

The first two sunk, the third burnt to the ground then sunk into the swamp. But the fourth...

kiwimoogle84

Did it sink into the swamp?


It burned down, fell over, THEN sank into the swamp.

did it catch fire, fall over and sink into the swamp?

only $540K to repair?

What are we talking a 10 foot long section?

Oh please; plenty of highways are built over swamps or bogs, and they don't sink.

You know why? Because they were built correctly in the first place. If you put enough soil or rock on top of the bog and compact it properly, it displaces the soft material (yes, even 30') and will eventually stop sinking. Or, you could dig out the 30' of muck if you're really stupid, but that means building cofferdams on either side of the highway (so it won't flow back in while you're digging, and to limit how much width you have to dig out), but that's really expensive.

Or, you can drive wooden or concrete piles down into the muck until they reach the bottom, then pour a concrete "pad" on top of the piles. The road embankment and pavement is then built on top of the concrete pad. US 64 outside of Columbia, NC was built that way back when the road was being widened.

/removing the muck should be the last resort
//highway design engineer

This is a case study in the use of Geofoam EPS blocks as a buoyant substructure.

Then I read this:

Other scientists documented a rare species of mosquito there.

wildcardjack: This is a case study in the use of Geofoam EPS blocks as a buoyant substructure.

So...that segment of the highway was effectively floating, at least for a bit? That's an interesting idea.

/Not an engineer.

Yeah, the original contractor and geological surveyor were kinda retarded here. You don't build a highway atop highly compressible material. You excavate till you find solid bedrock then you backfill with proper material, compacting it as you lay it down. If you also have frequent instances of flooding, you may just end up needing to build a viaduct over the land instead.

'..a "peaty swamp occupying an extensive ice-block depression" covered by a dense, floating layer of liverwort on the open, wet mucky spots. It was home to a very rare species of a large, hard- biting mosquito. In the middle of the 20th century, rattlesnakes were seen on a road that had been flooded by the swamp."

Sounds nice.

dryknife: '..a "peaty swamp occupying an extensive ice-block depression" covered by a dense, floating layer of liverwort on the open, wet mucky spots. It was home to a very rare species of a large, hard- biting mosquito. In the middle of the 20th century, rattlesnakes were seen on a road that had been flooded by the swamp."

Sounds nice.

Like a vacation paradise!

what a highway over a bog might look like :)



/hot, like a kill streak

Bendal: Oh please; plenty of highways are built over swamps or bogs, and they don't sink.

You know why? Because they were built correctly in the first place. If you put enough soil or rock on top of the bog and compact it properly, it displaces the soft material (yes, even 30') and will eventually stop sinking. Or, you could dig out the 30' of muck if you're really stupid, but that means building cofferdams on either side of the highway (so it won't flow back in while you're digging, and to limit how much width you have to dig out), but that's really expensive.

Or, you can drive wooden or concrete piles down into the muck until they reach the bottom, then pour a concrete "pad" on top of the piles. The road embankment and pavement is then built on top of the concrete pad. US 64 outside of Columbia, NC was built that way back when the road was being widened.

/removing the muck should be the last resort
//highway design engineer

You're not a real engineer.

A real engineer would pretend that there's some sort of secret, almost-magical process involved in building a road and that the only way to possibly build it is to hire a large group of engineers at exorbitant hourly rates, even though most of them will spend the majority of their time stating the obvious but trying to hide behind technobabble and/or unnecessarily detailed instructions

"There must be exactly 2.394" of crushed limestone compacted over exactly 3 hours and 5 minutes while the ambient temperature is 68 degrees, on top of 9.9532" of 1/2" navvy jack that's been painted a nice salmon color or else this whole section will collapse! You have 2.391" of limestone, you fool!"

kiwimoogle84: And let me guess...they built it all the same, just to show 'em.

/I could go on and on

All right but no singing.

kvinesknows: only $540K to repair?

What are we talking a 10 foot long section?

yeaaaaahhhhh....it's a 400 ft length and I'm calling bullshiat on that estimate right now.

Came for the Marvin the Paranoid Android references, leaving very disappointed.

brantgoose: Cordoroy Road.

On pontoons.

Or, if you are a Roman engineer, just dump big rocks into the bog until they stop sinking and cover with layers of broken rock and gravel until you have a straight road with a smooth surface. Built to last, those Romans. Massive slave labor force and no concept of built-in obsolence.

With material that deep, the Roman solution would be what I'd expect the geologists to suggest. That, or a very wide blanket of soil stabilization fabric with soil piled on top of it. As the bog consolidates (compacts), you keep adding soil, until it stops sinking and at that point you build the road. I've seen both solutions used with success in such a situation.

/never seen 30' of bog proposed to be removed
//Corps of Engineers would have had a heart attack

came for `no singing`

/left Argh!
//message for you sir!

brantgoose: Cordoroy Road.

On pontoons.

Or, if you are a Roman engineer, just dump big rocks into the bog until they stop sinking and cover with layers of broken rock and gravel until you have a straight road with a smooth surface. Built to last, those Romans. Massive slave labor force and no concept of built-in obsolence.

I've driven on a roman-built road in East Germany. They were using it as an onramp to the autobahn.

Sounds like a case of bogged down traffic

Coyote65: Came for the Marvin the Paranoid Android references, leaving very disappointed.

Imagine how they feel on Sqornshellous Zeta.

aw fark it

``A bridge?'' quirruled the mattress. ``Here in the swamp?''

``A bridge,'' confirmed Marvin, ``here in the swamp. It was going to revitalize the economy of the Squornshellous System. They spent the entire economy of the Squornshellous System building it. They asked me to open it. Poor fools.''

It began to rain a little, a fine spray slid through the mist.

``I stood on the platform. For hundreds of miles in front of me, and hundreds of miles behind me, the bridge stretched.''

``Did it glitter?'' enthused the mattress.

``It glittered.''

``Did it span the miles majestically?''

``It spanned the miles majestically.''

``Did it stretch like a silver thread far out into the invisible mist?''

``Yes,'' said Marvin. ``Do you want to hear this story?''

Maybe the highway just wanted to warm it's feet.

You poor old sod, you see it's only me.

Idiots. Probably would have been cheaper to build around the farking bog!

Crony contracts aren't up to snuff? Where do you get these crazy ideas?

The first one fell over and sank into the swamp.

So when they were weighing their options for where to build the highway I guess they never *puts on sunglasses* weighed bogs.


YYYYEEEEAAAAHHHHHHHHH

Came for the Monty Python. Leaving so satisfied I need a cigarette and some cuddling.

It was home to a very rare species of a large, hard- biting mosquito... Neither Old Prairie Swamp nor McColm Bog were preserved.

I am glad that cooler heads prevailed over the nature nuts on that one

/a bullet dodged

Doctor_TeethMD: So when they were weighing their options for where to build the highway I guess they never *puts on sunglasses* weighed bogs.


YYYYEEEEAAAAHHHHHHHHH

BANG!

/shoots Doctor_TeethMD

Mock26: Idiots. Probably would have been cheaper to build around the farking bog!

If only someone had left a note ...

Perducci: Bendal: Oh please; plenty of highways are built over swamps or bogs, and they don't sink.

You know why? Because they were built correctly in the first place. If you put enough soil or rock on top of the bog and compact it properly, it displaces the soft material (yes, even 30') and will eventually stop sinking. Or, you could dig out the 30' of muck if you're really stupid, but that means building cofferdams on either side of the highway (so it won't flow back in while you're digging, and to limit how much width you have to dig out), but that's really expensive.

Or, you can drive wooden or concrete piles down into the muck until they reach the bottom, then pour a concrete "pad" on top of the piles. The road embankment and pavement is then built on top of the concrete pad. US 64 outside of Columbia, NC was built that way back when the road was being widened.

/removing the muck should be the last resort
//highway design engineer

You're not a real engineer.

A real engineer would pretend that there's some sort of secret, almost-magical process involved in building a road and that the only way to possibly build it is to hire a large group of engineers at exorbitant hourly rates, even though most of them will spend the majority of their time stating the obvious but trying to hide behind technobabble and/or unnecessarily detailed instructions

"There must be exactly 2.394" of crushed limestone compacted over exactly 3 hours and 5 minutes while the ambient temperature is 68 degrees, on top of 9.9532" of 1/2" navvy jack that's been painted a nice salmon color or else this whole section will collapse! You have 2.391" of limestone, you fool!"

You write spec books?