Triad Engineering, Inc. (Triad) was awarded a contract to perform geotechnical explorations of six sites within the City of Martinsburg. The City of Martinsburg partnered with Downstream Strategies and Canaan Valley Institute and received funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to investigate sites on the City’s west end that could benefit from stormwater management practices. This contract was the first step in identifying the top three sites to undergo further design.
Triad’s geotechnical exploration included drilling twelve auger probes, excavating six test pits and performing infiltration testing. The auger probes and test pits were completed at locations selected by the City of Martinsburg and staked out by Triad survey personnel. Groundwater was encountered at one of the locations and all locations had some shallow bedrock. These conditions are not suitable for infiltration-type stormwater managements systems, which was a primary goal for the City of Martinsburg. However, some of the probed areas did represent suitable conditions for infiltration type facilities.
The details of the laboratory test results, field exploration findings and recommendations were all included in the final geotechnical report presented to the City of Martinsburg. The City of Martinsburg plans to use this information to supplement its stormwater management capital improvement program.