Highway 28 Rock Blasting

Konya Industries was tasked with designing and implementing the blast design for the four lane Highway 28 project located north of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Working with the drilling and blasting contractor, KESCO Inc, a new method of presplitting was used to break the extremely weak rock and ensure the safety of the travelers on the highway below the rock wall.

Project Goals

Develop a way to presplit very weake shales and sandstones
Ensure highway shutdowns would be minimal and attempt to have no rock land on active highway
Blast a stable face that would need minimal to no work for decades while ensuring safety of travelers on the highway

Construction Blasting

With the very weak rock types at this project the conventional presplitting with presplit powder was damaging the highwalls and preventing the necessary face stability. Because of this, a new method of precision presplitting that was developed by Dr. Konya was implemented, Precision Presplitting. This form of presplitting used extremely lightly loaded holes that produced no backbreak and created a stable face.

Project Completion

All rock was blasted along the highway creating a smooth, stable face with no backbreak and without damaging the roadway or prolonged stoppages of traffic. The slope is still stable today protecting travelers from rock falls.