Gunnison Tunnel: Engineering History of an Early American Reclamation Project
Publication: Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 27, Issue 6
Abstract
This paper describes the surveying, engineering, and construction operations performed in the construction of the Gunnison Tunnel for the Gunnison River Diversion Project. The Gunnison Tunnel, which diverts water from the Gunnison River to the Uncompahgre Valley, was one of the first major engineering projects undertaken by the federal government under the authority of the U.S. Reclamation Service. It has been recognized as a national historic civil engineering landmark for the engineering feats involved in its construction, including the performance of site investigations and survey operations through extremely harsh terrain and its construction crews’ perseverance through several dramatic accidents. It is observed that a potential cause of these multiple accidents was an insufficient knowledge of the geological subsurface properties, leading to significant differences between expected and encountered subsurface conditions. This was particularly problematic with respect to the existence of cohesionless soils and water and gas seams, resulting in numerous fatalities and injuries among hard rock miners who were inexperienced with tunneling through cohesionless soils.
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Acknowledgments
The authors thank Dr. Dario A. Gasparini of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at Case Western Reserve University and the three anonymous reviewers of this manuscript for their constructive comments and feedback regarding the presentation of this material.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 27 • Issue 6 • December 2013
Pages: 826 - 835
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 19, 2012
Accepted: Jun 5, 2012
Published online: Aug 8, 2012
Published in print: Dec 1, 2013
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