CMGC Process Accelerates Big Fill Slide Emergency Response
When a portion of Wyoming Highway 22/Teton Pass collapsed in a landslide in June 2024, the region lost a lifeline. The pass is a critical route for people who live in Idaho and work in the tourist hotspot of Jackson, Wyoming. For some residents, a 24-mile commute turned into an 86-mile journey.
After Wyoming DOT installed a temporary bypass to alleviate the immediate crisis, it selected Ames Construction for a permanent repair. The Big Fill Slide is WYDOT’s first alternative delivery project, and the process moved swiftly. A typical CMGC process may take months or years, but the Big Fill’s two work packages were complete in less than three months.
Ames is a reliable partner to the transportation industry across the United States. For emergency projects like the Big Fill Slide, Ames is uniquely diversified to perform the wide variety of tasks needed to get life back to normal faster.
The division in work packages allowed Ames to start construction on the first package on Aug. 2, 2024, while details were refined on the second package. There was no time to lose. Ames crews worked double shifts, often seven days a week, with one goal: Get as much done as possible before snow (400 inches or more in a typical season) arrives.
For the first work package, crews excavated 66,822 cubic yards of the failed material and installed 61,700 square feet of soil nail walls. This package was complete on Sept. 28, two days ahead of schedule.
The second work package involves soil stabilization and the installation of foam glass aggregate material for lightweight fill. The jobsite elevation ranges from the bottom of the cut at 7,560 feet to the roadway elevation at 7,670 feet. Even with several storms and 2 feet of snow in late 2024, the team worked to reach an elevation of 7,596 feet before shutting down for the season in mid-December.
Construction resumed in April and is on track to be complete by July.
Watch Video by WYDOT.
