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Final Report Fhwa-Wy-09/05F Snow Supporting FINAL REPORT FHWA-WY-09/05F State of Wyoming U.S. Department of Transportation Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration SNOW SUPPORTING STRUCTURES FOR AVALANCHE HAZARD REDUCTION, 151 AVALANCHE, HIGHWAY US 89/191, JACKSON, WYOMING By: InterAlpine Associates 83 El Camino Tesoros Sedona, Arizona 86336 April 2009 Notice This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Transportation in the interest of information exchange. The U.S. Government assumes no liability for the use of the information contained in this document. The contents of this report reflect the views of the author(s) who are responsible for the facts and accuracy of the data presented herein. The contents do not necessarily reflect the official views or policies of the Wyoming Department of Transportation or the Federal Highway Administration. This report does not constitute a standard, specification, or regulation. The United States Government and the State of Wyoming do not endorse products or manufacturers. Trademarks or manufacturers’ names appear in this report only because they are considered essential to the objectives of the document. Quality Assurance Statement The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) provides high-quality information to serve Government, industry, and the public in a manner that promotes public understanding. Standards and policies are used to ensure and maximize the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of its information. FHWA periodically reviews quality issues and adjusts its programs and processes to ensure continuous quality improvement. Technical Report Documentation Page Report No. Government Accession No. Recipients Catalog No. FHWA-WY-09/05F Report Date Title and Subtitle April 2009 Snow Supporting Structures for Avalanche Hazard Reduction, 151 Avalanche, US 89/191, Jackson, Wyoming Performing Organization Code Author(s): Rand Decker; Joshua Hewes; Scotts Merry; Perry Wood Performing Organization Report No. Work Unit No. RS05(205) Performing Organization Name and Address Job No. B38B InterAlpine Associates, 83 El Camino Tesoros, Sedona, AZ 86336 Contact or Grant No. Type of Report and Period Covered Final Report Sponsoring Agency Name and Address August 2005 - April 2009 Wyoming Department of Transportation Sponsoring Agency Code 5300 Bishop Blvd. Cheyenne, WY 82009-3340 WYDOT Research Center (307) 777-4182 Supplementary Notes WYDOT Technical Contact: James (Jim) Montuoro, P.E., District Maintenance Engineer, District 3 Abstract: The 151 Avalanche, near Jackson, Wyoming has, historically, avalanched to the road below 1.5 to 2 times a year. The road, US 89/191 is four lanes and carries an estimated 8,000 vehicles per day in the winter months. The starting zone of the 151 Avalanche is 1,140 vertical feet above the roadway. With the adjacent development of the South Park areas of the Jackson Hole Valley, using explosives for avalanche control is unacceptable. As a consequence, this project has led to the design and configuration of a deployment of snow supporting structures, that if implemented, would provide a more effective avalanche defense system. This has resulted in a unit structural and foundation design for seventy (70) snow supporting structures. The unit design will support a maximum 6.6' snowpack. The 70 structures, deployed with a separation of 50' longitudinally, will cover the dominant portions of the 151 Avalanche starting zone. Moreover, novel deployment configuration has been developed to also retain the visual characteristics of the starting zone as seen from the Jackson Hole valley floor. This factors critically into the National Environment Policy Act (NEPA) rule-making responsibilities of the USDA Bridger-Teton National Forest and their resulting favorable Decision Memo. The resulting design of a snow supporting structure is 12' long and 5.5' high, installed nearly perpendicular to the slope which is inclined at 35 degrees. A single structure weights 1,400 pounds, and the cost is estimated at $16,600 per structure; fabricated, transported and installed. Key Words Distribution Statement Wyoming, Snow Supporting Structures, Snow Bridge, Avalanche, 151 Avalanche, Jackson, Fabrication, NEPA, Visual Retention Unlimited Security Classif. (of this report) Security Classif. (of this page) No. of Pages Price Unclassified Unclassified ~139 Form DOT F 1700.7 (8-72) Reproduction of form and completed page is authorized. i SI* (Modern Metric) Conversion Factors Approximate Conversions from SI Units Approximate Conversions to SI Units Symbol When You Know Multiply By To Find Symbol Symbol When You Know Multiply By To Find Symbol Length Length mm millimeters 0.039 inches in in Inches 25.4 millimeters mm m meters 3.28 feet ft ft Feet 0.305 meters m m meters 1.09 yards yd yd Yards 0.914 meters m km kilometers 0.621 miles mi mi Miles 1.61 kilometers km Area Area mm2 square millimeters 0.0016 square inches in2 in2 square inches 645.2 square millimeters mm2 m2 square meters 10.764 square feet ft2 ft2 square feet 0.093 square meters m2 m2 square meters 1.195 square yards yd2 yd2 square yards 0.836 square meters m2 ha hectares 2.47 acres ac ac Acres 0.405 hectares ha km2 square kilometers 0.386 square miles mi2 mi2 square miles 2.59 square kilometers km2 Volume Volume ml milliliters 0.034 fluid ounces fl oz fl oz fluid ounces 29.57 milliliters ml l liters 0.264 gallons gal gal Gallons 3.785 liters l m3 cubic meters 35.71 cubic feet ft3 ft3 cubic feet 0.028 cubic meters m3 m3 cubic meters 1.307 cubic yards yd3 yd3 cubic yards 0.765 cubic meters m3 Mass Mass g grams 0.035 ounces oz oz Ounces 28.35 grams g kg kilograms 2.202 pounds lb lb Pounds 0.454 kilograms kg Mg megagrams 1.103 short tons (2000 lbs) T T short tons (2000 lbs) 0.907 megagrams Mg Temperature (exact) Temperature (exact) C Centigrade 1.8 C + 32 Fahrenheit F F Fahrenheit 5(F-32)/9 Celsius C temperature temperature Temperature or (F-32)/1.8 temperature Illumination Illumination lx lux 0.0929 foot-candles fc fc foot-candles 10.76 lux lx cd/m2 candela/m2 0.2919 foot-Lamberts fl fl foot-Lamberts 3.426 candela/m2 cd/m2 Force and Pressure or Stress Force and Pressure or Stress N newtons 0.225 poundforce lbf lbf pound-force 4.45 newtons N kPa kilopascals 0.145 pound-force per psi psi pound-force per 6.89 kilopascals kPa square inch square inch ii Acknowledgements InterAlpine Associates, acknowledges the support of James (Jim) Montuoro, WYDOT District Three Maintenance Engineer; Michael Patritch, WYDOT Research Manager; and Ed Smith, Jamie Yount, and Gallen Richards Maintenance Foreman and staff, respectively, at the WYDOT‟s Jackson maintenance facility. Further, InterAlpine acknowledges the efforts of Stefan Margreth, Head of the (Avalanche) Warning and Prevention Unit of the Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research, as well as the Institute‟s leadership, for authorizing and providing an advanced copy of the 2007 English language Swiss Guideline; Defense structures in avalanche starting zones Technical guideline as an aid to enforcement. iii Table of Contents Executive Summary ix 1: Problem Description 1 2: Project Objectives and Task Narrative 5 3: Project Background 9 3.1: Avalanche Hazard Reduction at Jackson‟s 151 Avalanche 9 3.1.1: Avalanche Hazard Forecasting and Artificial Release 12 3.1.2: Snow Sails 12 3.1.3: Trial (Re) forestation 15 3.2: Structural Systems for Passive Avalanche Defense 17 3.2.1: Avalanche Sheds or Galleries at the Roadway 19 3.2.2: Avalanche Starting Zone Systems 21 4: Unit Design for Snow Supporting Structures in the 151 Starting Zone 24 4.1 Implementation of the 2007 Swiss Guideline for Snow Supporting Structures 24 4.2 Unit Design of Snow Supporting Structures for the 151 Avalanche 28 4.2.1 Snow Loads and Structural Design 29 4.2.2 Geometry, Structural Analysis and Unit Design 30 4.3 Structural Anchoring 40 4.3.1 Structural Capacity of Ground Anchors 41 4.3.2 Installation of Ground Anchors 44 4.3.3 Structure-to-Anchor Connections for the 151 Avalanche 45 4.3.4 Snow Supporting Structural Foundation Capacity in Soil and Rock 51 4.3.5 pre-Installation testing, Construction Monitoring and Inspection 54 5: Snow Supporting Structure Deployment in the 151 Avalanche Starting Zone 58 5.1 Typical Configurations for Snow Supporting Structural Deployments 59 5.2 NEPA Requirements and the 151 Avalanche Deployment Configuration 62 6: 151 Avalanche Snow Supporting Structural Defense Cost Estimates 69 iv 7: USDA Forest Service Decision Making Process and Resulting Decision Memo 74 References 80 Appendices Appendix A: Process Steps for the Design and Deployment of Snow Supporting Structures for Avalanche Hazard Management Appendix B: Plan Sheet Details – Unit Structural Design, Connections, and Ground Anchors. Appendix C: Virtual Renderings – Snow Supporting Structure Deployment Configurations. Appendix D: USDA Bridger-Teton National Forest 151 Avalanche Decision Memo and Work Process Meeting Summaries List of Figures Figure pg. Figure 1. Location of the Milepost 151 avalanche with respect to the community of Jackson, Wyoming. 7 Figure 2. The 151 Avalanche on US 89/191 south of the community of Jackson, Wyoming (from: WYDOT Jackson maintenance facility Avalanche Atlas). 8 Figure 3. A vehicle struck by the 151 Avalanche on US 89/191 in Jackson, Wyoming. 10 Figure 4. Rotary snow-blower cut debris from the 151 Avalanche adjacent the US 89/191 roadway in Jackson, Wyoming. 11 Figure 5. An abandon vehicle struck by an avalanche in Alta, Utah. 12 Figure 6. A view from the valley floor of the full 50 sail deployment of snow sails on the 151 Avalanche. 14 Figure 7. A typical European snow shed for avalanche hazard reduction. 20 Figure 8. A novel European bridge/snow shed combination for avalanche hazard management.
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