I apologize for the delay in responding to this post, but I was looking
for the plans to our shoring walls and then realized we put them in the
appendix of the CD report. The Chena River Waterfront/Barnette St.
excavation in downtown Fairbanks used a shoring system designed for us
by Hart Crowser, Inc. To quote the appendix:

"Our solution to the conflict between safe sheet shoring and
stratigraphic profile visibility was to use an adjustable engineered
shoring system for all
excavations greater than 1.2 meters in depth. The shoring system was
designed by Hart Crowser geotechnical engineers for the particular soil
conditions
and the excavation plan in use on this project. Soils information came
from borehole explorations done by ADOT & PF. The system used a series
of
vertical 2x6 planks around the perimeter that were held in place by
heavy timber horizontal wales and cross-brace screw jacks. For
archaeology, this
provided an elegant solution. We could: 1) excavate up to a 6x2 meter
trench (the allowed OSHA depth) without shoring; 2) document the
stratigraphy; 3)
place the shoring; 4) excavate down another meter below the shoring; 5)
record the new wall information; and 6) drop each 2x6 to the bottom of
the
excavation by pounding them down with sledge hammers and reepeat steps 4
and 5 if necessary.

Area-wide expansion occurred using another approved technique, namely
step down terracing. By OSHA regulations, the difference in adjacent
levels
cannot not exceed the maximum 1.2 meters depth. This required a bit more
planning in deciding unit excavation sequences, but it did not seriously

interfere with the overall excavation strategies.

We have attached a copy of the shoring design plan and load calculations
for the reference of future field researchers at other sites. It serves
as a useful
model for future excavations. Any use on other projects, however,
requires review, modification, and approval by a professional engineer
to address the
particular soil conditions and excavation plans."

The CD is available from NLUR at cost ($5 incl shipping to US).

Catherine Williams
Northern Land Use Research, Inc.