Underground Infrastructure - August 2023 - 14

Hard Surface Potholing
Since purchasing its first CS418B core saw, McKim &
Creed added two more at its Sarasota location and several
other locations.
" Utility companies we contract for and the municipalities
where the work is being done like the results we deliver with
these core saws, " King explained. " On many projects, they no
longer leave it up to the contractor to pothole utilities under
hard surfaces. Instead, they are hiring us to do it ahead of time,
so they know the restoration work will be done right and hold
up as long as the rest of the road. "
Core sawing process
Most of the core saw work that McKim & Creed performs is
related to road construction or utility expansion projects.
" For a long time, utility owners and municipalities didn't
document the location of everything buried underground, " said
King. " They weren't thinking about road expansion projects or
other utility work that might happen 20 to 40 years later.
" Our team's first attempt is to track down old records that
may give us a clue about what might be underground. In many
cases, we also have to bring in ground penetrating radar (GPR)
to assist with that step. Once we have a general idea of where
lines may be, we must verify it. That means seeing a utility with
our eyes and marking GPS coordinates. "
McKim & Creed's crews usually work in the evening when
there is less traffic. Once traffic barriers are in place, three people
get to work coring and potholing.
" The process starts with the core saw, " explained King. " We
use a 12-inch core bit to cut a hole in the asphalt or concrete
and then move the unit to the next location. Once that's done,
we use an air vacuum excavator to dig down to the utility and
record its exact location. Then we refill the hole with the same
material we excavated and compact it. We put down a layer of
pea gravel near the surface, lay down some epoxy and replace
the core. "
the hole back in and epoxy the core back in place. The problem
was that the setup wasn't very efficient. We had to bring in extra
equipment and run water lines. It was time-consuming. "
After a year of proving that coring was the right solution for
hard surface potholing, the team set out to find a better core
saw setup.
McKim & Creed's search led them to the local Vermeer
Southeast dealership, where the team got a chance to demo the
Vermeer CS418B core saw. According to King, this unit had an
immediate impact on productivity.
" It's a self-contained, trailered core saw that doesn't require
extra equipment or setup time, " he said. " A gas engine powers
the saw. It has a 100-gallon water system onboard, so we don't
have to bring in an extra tank and pump. And the whole thing
is compact and lightweight. We can pull it to the job with our
Chevy Colorado work trucks. "
14 AUGUST 2023 | UndergroundInfrastructure.com
If the utility cannot be identified in the first hole, the
McKim & Creed crew will drill multiple cores near each other,
rather than chase the locate by opening up more of the hard
surface, as some contractors do.
" Coring the street is faster than cutting or breaking up the
surface and performing significant street repair. City officials
and the DOT prefer this approach, too, " he added.
On average, with a team of three people, McKim & Creed
will pull and replace between seven and eight cores in a shift.
Most of the time, the team works overnight hours. By morning
all lanes can be reopened.
" All restoration can be completed in a single shift, and
within a few weeks, most people can't even tell where the road
was cored, " concluded King. UI
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
McKim & Creed, (919) 233-8091, mckimcreed.com/
Vermeer Corp., (888) 837-6337, vermeer.com
Vermeer Southeast, (888) 803-1870, vermeersoutheast.com/
http://www.mckimcreed.com/ http://www.vermeer.com http://www.vermeersoutheast.com/ http://www.UndergroundInfrastructure.com
Underground Infrastructure - August 2023

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