Question for Civil or Construction Engineers

[intrepid27]

There is a street going to be built through an empty lot next to my property. This has been one of those projects talked about for the last 20 years and has moved very slowly.

They did soil boring and some survey work last year. My question is this: How long will the soil and survey info be good for before they would have to do it again? Just trying to get a sense on what time line may look like.

Thanks

 

[JSmoove]

There is a street going to be built through an empty lot next to my property. This has been one of those projects talked about for the last 20 years and has moved very slowly.

They did soil boring and some survey work last year. My question is this: How long will the soil and survey info be good for before they would have to do it again? Just trying to get a sense on what time line may look like.

Thanks

Assuming nothing happens to the site grading or material wise, they could still shelve the project and not pick it back up for years.

Also if the project is a go, you're probably a year away from seeing construction start. Depending on how large this project is.

 

[jhutch1990]

I had a project awhile back where we were referencing 25 year old soil borings. So ya if the site conditions don't change you can use them for many, many years.

 

[mj4cy]

I've worked on projects where we are adding an addition to an existing building and we use the existing borings. The only thing you have to watch for is if you ever see people doing some earth work then pulling off the job for whatever reason (usually funding). Then you might want to see if they added in crappy top soil for whatever reason.

Also, right before construction, many projects will have on going construction testing to verify everything as the borings only give you a sample and can't cover the extent of the project.

 

[JayV]

Note: I'm basing my response on your stated location of Marion, Iowa and my experience as a civil engineer in the area.

The Marion City Engineering Department is very friendly and helpful. The City Engineer, Dan Whitlow, publishes a newsletter for current and upcoming projects here. They also provide a draft schedule of projects so you can get an idea of what the current and future status will look like.

If neither of those answer any questions about the schedule or project then give them a call, Dan Whitlow and the two assistant city engineers, Daren and Mike, are all very friendly and helpful.

 

[wxman1]

There is a street going to be built through an empty lot next to my property. This has been one of those projects talked about for the last 20 years and has moved very slowly.

They did soil boring and some survey work last year. My question is this: How long will the soil and survey info be good for before they would have to do it again? Just trying to get a sense on what time line may look like.

Thanks

Marion? Project discussed for 20 years? Tower Terrace extension?

 

[CtownCyclone]

I had a project awhile back where we were referencing 25 year old soil borings. So ya if the site conditions don't change you can use them for many, many years.

Heck, we used borings from when our plant was constructed 40-50 years ago. Of course we did take some new ones to verify as well as new ones in areas that were previously undeveloped land, but they came back consistent with what we had from before.

 

[Dr.bannedman]

well that soil took 1,000-10,000 years to form. should be good for at least 5-10 years

 

[EnhancedFujita]

Check with the City and see if they have it budgeted in their CIP. Commitment of funds is a better indicator of progress than work on soil borings. It'd also give you a better idea of the timeframe, not that CIPs don't change, but its usually the best guess at when a City is planning to do a project in the near term (next 5 years).