New road traffic signalling on Dunreath Drive, a major access road to Perth Airport, required three 3.7m x 3.7m x 1.6m excavations for the concrete footings supporting the new signs.
A concern was that mechanical or water assisted vacuum excavation could lead to adjacent Dunreath Drive being undermined, with the potential of road damage and major traffic disruptions. The excavations were near existing trees which needed to be protected.
The SRM team designed timber shoring boxes that were placed in layers above the excavation zone. Our DryVac vacuum excavator removed the material inside the box, allowing it to gradually descend into the hole. New layers were added to the shoring box until the required excavation depth was reached. This approach ensured that the footprint of the excavation was kept to a minimum, disturbance of existing tree roots was minimised, and the road base was not interfered with. The timber shoring boxes also acted as the formwork for pouring of the concrete footings.
