Situation:

Solano Transit Authority (STA) is converting its fleet to zero-emission buses and upgrading its bus yards to an inductive charging system. To complete the project design, the City of Valley required our partner WSP to perform the Geotechnical Exploration of the soils to properly plan for and construct the canopy holding one million pounds of batteries. The concern was sandy and muddy San Francisco infill soils would be too deep and not have the necessary load-bearing properties. A soils exploration was conducted by STA a few years back, but the study was nowhere to be found. So finally, WSP came to Soar Environmental in a pinch to get this study done within six weeks around the holidays.

Action

Soar Environmental immediately mobilized our Geotechnical team to coordinate the county drill permit, schedule the drill rig, have our Geotechnical and Project Engineers survey and mark the drill sites, perform the drilling for soils samples down to 30 feet, and submit the soil samples for testing. This exploration was completed within three weeks once the notice to proceed was received.

Results

Good news! The entire exploration from mobilization to delivering the final report was six weeks. All parties were extremely happy with the speed and precision of the Soar Environmental team to complete this geotechnical exploration. The report found that the bedrock underneath the load-bearing pillars is within the parameters required to draw up structural plans to house the batteries above the canopies.