Summary

The South Chickamauga Creek Interceptor Rehabilitation project required a temporary access road capable of supporting heavy trucks and construction equipment across weak, wet soils.

Hurst Excavating installed Mirafi® RS580i beneath the aggregate haul road. The geotextile provided a practical alternative to heavy bearing mats and helped establish durable construction access while preserving the ability to remove the roadway after the work was completed.

Installed in late 2022, the temporary haul road served the project for approximately 12 months.

Challenge

Poor, wet soil conditions made dependable construction access difficult for the heavy vehicles and equipment required on the project.

The access system needed to meet two competing requirements. It had to withstand repeated construction traffic, but it could not become a permanent installation. Minimizing disturbance to the surrounding area after construction was also an important consideration.

Heavy bearing mats were considered as a potential alternative. However, transporting, positioning and later removing the mats would have required considerably more time and labor.

Solution

The project team selected Mirafi® RS580i, a heavy-duty woven geotextile engineered for stabilization and reinforcement over extremely soft subgrades.

Hurst Excavating rolled the geotextile into position and placed aggregate over it to construct the temporary haul road. This straightforward installation method eliminated the extensive handling associated with individual bearing mats.

The geotextile helped maintain separation between the weak subgrade and aggregate while reinforcing the roadway section under construction traffic.

Results

The temporary haul road supported access by heavy trucks and construction equipment for approximately 12 months.

According to the project team, the solution provided durable access across wet, soft soil conditions while requiring less setup time and labor than a heavy bearing-mat system would have required.

Because the system was temporary and removable, it also helped minimize the project’s lasting impact on the surrounding area. The project demonstrates a practical approach for creating construction access roads over weak or wet soils without committing to permanent pavement or labor-intensive bearing mats.

About Mirafi® RS580i

Mirafi® RS580i is the premium, heavy-duty product in the Mirafi® RSi series of woven, high-performance geotextiles. Its multilayer woven-fiber construction is engineered to provide stabilization and reinforcement in demanding infrastructure applications.

Designed for extremely soft subgrades, Mirafi® RS580i can be used in haul roads, highways, railways, airfields, embankment stabilization and other applications requiring improved performance over weak foundation soils.