Mesa County, CO — Wood Culverts Relined with Snap-Tite

Wood Culverts from the 1920s Found in Colorado Relined with Snap-Tite® Pipe

Background
Unaweep Canyon, located in Western Colorado, cuts across the Uncompahgre Plateau. It has a unique geography because it has two creeks that flow out opposite ends of the canyon, essentially creating two outlets. The East Creek and West Creek are separated by the Unaweep Divide, which is barely visible. The state Highway 141 runs through the canyon between Whitewater and Gateway, Colorado.
The Problem
The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) was resurfacing and fixing parts of Highway 141 in Unaweep Canyon. Located south of Grand Junction up in Unaweep Canyon, there were four 36-inch octagonal wood culverts underneath a two-lane highway. These culverts were installed sometime in the 1920s and were completely worn. Leaving them as is for much longer meant the entire road could collapse. In addition, there was minimal access to the wood culverts because they were underneath about 60 feet of fill. Digging and replacing the culverts would be costly and force a shut down of the highway, which is the only road running through the canyon. The CDOT needed a no-dig solution that would allow them to repair the wood culverts without closing down the road during the project.

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