MnDOT Highway 169 2015 Drilling Project

Abstract

The Natural Resources Research Institute (NRRI) Economic Geology Group was contracted by the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) [Project Number 0005269] to provide onsite drilling supervision, core logging and sampling, and geochemical studies related to proposed construction along Highway 169 east of Soudan, Minnesota. The goal of this project was to provide MnDOT the data required to produce a mitigation plan for the Highway 169 Eagles Nest project. MnDOT, working with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Golder Associates, was responsible for developing the guidelines for this work with the help of the Highway 169 Technical Working Group (Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Minnesota Department of Health, US Corps of Engineers, Environmental Protection Agency, and NRRI). Golder Associates (Seattle, WA office) was responsible for developing the mitigation plan for bedrock roadcuts along the reroute. This work was a continuation of the studies by Severson and Heine (2010, 2012) and Heine (2015) which examined the bedrock outcrops along three proposed Highway 169 reroutes and alternatives. Severson and Heine (2012) concluded that drilling would be needed in the potential bedrock roadcuts along the reroute corridor to fully characterize the geology as required in the mitigation plan.