Tasks Performed: Rock mechanics engineer responsible for performing design reviews, geologic studies, stability and structural calculations, preparing designs and supervising instrumentation and construction. He developed proposals for the application of the NATM. The NATM was given serious consideration in excavating and supporting the tunnel through the Loveland Fault Zone.
Duration: 1967-1970 (36 months)
Description: Formerly known as the Straight Creek Vehicular Tunnel, the Eisenhower Tunnel is approximately 2,400-meters-long and measures 20 meters in diameter. It is located on I-70 approximately 104 kilometers west of Denver in the Front Range of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. The Eisenhower Tunnel is unique by the standards of most tunnels in its size and in the variety of rock classes. The tunnel was beset by many difficulties during its construction and became an underground laboratory in which many of the existing theoretical and empirical methods of rock pressure analysis have been applied to determine support requirements.
