The Practical Solution for a Cave Located on a School Campus in Central Kentucky

This paper will discuss the solution that Central Kentucky developed for a cave that was discovered near a school. A school system in Central Kentucky found it necessary to address their expanding population of school age children by developing a new middle school campus. This campus is on property formerly of agricultural use. It consists of multiple buildings, miles of streets, acres of parking lots and thousands of feet of buried utilities. During construction of the middle school site and the related facilities, numerous sinkholes and karst features were encountered. It was during the construction of a sewer main adjacent to one of the roadways that a 2 foot by 2 foot sinkhole in rock was uncovered. Subsequent excavation for remediation of the sinkhole uncovered a large multi‐level cave with flowing water. The cave trends under the road and toward the new school. Remediation consisted of excavation of the cave and karst features under the roadway and toward the school until sufficient roof strata thickness was obtained. Overflow relief from the cave was provided via a detention basin. Support for the roadway and forced sewer was achieved mainly with a combination of crushed stone, filter fabric and structural concrete. The Jessamine Board of Education determined it was necessary to construct a new middle school east of Nicholasville, KY to address the increase in school age children in their growing community. From this idea was created the East Jessamine Middle School (EJMS). Jessamine County, being one of the fastest growth areas of Kentucky, decided to take a longer term view than just a school. They elected to go with a long range plan of developing a campus for future expansion as the need arose. The selected site is located east of Nicholasville, KY on KY 169 (Richmond Ave). The campus site was previously a farm with few structures.

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Media Type: CD-ROM
  • Features: Photos;
  • Pagination: pp 267-282
  • Monograph Title: Proceedings of the 60th Highway Geology Symposium

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01142309
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Files: TRIS
  • Created Date: Oct 21 2009 8:29AM