Minnesota DOT (MnDOT) retained Itasca Consulting Group (ICG) and Itasca Consulting Canada (ICCI) to map the mine’s rock wall. MnDOT Geologist Andrew Shinnefield climbed the wall a couple times to verify selected survey data with his own measurements.
Having obtained an easement from RGGS Land & Minerals Ltd. to build Highway 53 in the City of Virginia in 1960, Minnesota DOT is moving part of Highway 53 so RGGS’s lessee can access iron ore beneath. Begun in November 2015, the $220 million project includes building a 1,100-foot bridge over the Rouchleau Pit and is expected to be completed in June 2018.
When U.S. 460 is completed in 2021, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet will have delivered nearly three-quarters of the Appalachian Highway Corridor System conceived in the 1960s. Half the 16.7-mile road realignment opened in December 2014; the rest is under construction or not open to traffic because adjacent sections are under construction.
Kokosing Construction of Westerville, Ohio, used the Boomerang mapping system developed by Pittsburgh-based Identified Technologies to create 3D models using photogrammetry. The contractor used the models to track aggregate stockpile volume and avoid overproduction on two 500-acre sites in Elkhorn City, Ky. The drone surveyed both sites in less than half a day.
