Mountain High

Breckenridge, Colorado

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The town of Breckenridge, Colorado is constructing a new water treatment plant, intake structure and raw water pump station. When completed, the facility will divert and transport water from the Blue River, and deposit treated water to the existing North Tank. The facility is being constructed on old dredge tailings consisting of very loose to medium dense sands and gravel with various amounts of silt.

Based on the variability of the soil, the owner selected stone columns to provide densified soils so that spread footings and slabs on grade could be utilized for building foundations. Our team is using a Liebherr 8100 to install 640 stone columns to depths up to 45 feet. Pre-drilling is being performed with a BG-20 to break through a 5 to 8-foot-thick cap over the dredge tailing consisting of boulders and large river cobbles. Stone column work began at the end of winter so that construction of the treatment buildings could continue in Breckenridge’s short summer building season.

To learn more about this project, please contact Jeff Neal at jneal@malcolmdrilling.com