Geofoam Used To Help Rebuild Highway 36 In Record Time
(CBS4) – Drivers along U.S. 36 in Westminster now have some relief; lanes are back open after over-saturated soil caused a giant sinkhole on the highway. A large part of the repairs were completed with geofoam, a lightweight fill material made from expanded polystyrene. And it's manufactured right here in Colorado.
"So geofoam is sort of a generic name. We call our product 'Insulfoam GF,'" said Kris Essex, Colorado Insulfoam Sales Manager.
Essex gave CBS4 a special tour of the Aurora facility, where crews have been working hard since requesting help with the project from a Colorado Department of Transportation engineer.
"I was very surprised. I got the call, it was actually on a weekend. And his response to me was, 'We need your help.' So we were fortunate that we would be able to do that," Essex laughed. "We sent all the material out in about 20 days. It was almost 250 semi loads of foam. It was about 27,000 cubic yards. It was a lot to get done in a very short period of time and geofoam was the best answer to do that."
CDOT chose geofoam as their preferred tool to fix the massive crack because it's quick and stable.
"If they were building it with traditional soils, the problem is you have to bring the soil in, then let it settle or be compacted to build upon. There just wasn't a time period to be able to do that. So it was elected to use geofoam as a substitute to that," said Essex.
The 6,000 geofoam blocks were also installed in record time, according to Essex.
"There's not another one in North America that's been done in such a short period of time of this size and volume. We had to employ six of our [nationwide] plants to be able to produce enough material to be able to do that in such a short order. I think we're the only company that could have done that in that period of time," added Essex.
Essex also says the interest being generated in geofoam technology helps people realize how versatile and valuable it is.
"I always say that it may not be new technology, but if you've never seen it before, it's new to you. We've gotten a lot of calls from folks saying, 'Wow I didn't know you could do that. Now I'm interested in the product.' So it's been great for our industry," said Essex.
More information: www.geofoamamerica.com/
