Cutting and Filling in Large-Scale Developments

In large-scale land development, laying a solid foundation is one of the most important processes. And to create this foundation, there needs to be a large scale shift in land. One of the most common ways this is done is through cutting and filling. This process is exactly as it sounds, removing large amounts of land and shaping it to the ideal foundation.

However, this raises lots of concerns with sustainability. Especially with moving large amounts of land, there is lot of potential to damage the natural environment. This may displace large populations of plants and animals, some of which may be endangered.

With this in mind, along with challenges of logistics of moving such amounts of land, cutting and filling requires a great deal of steps. The first major step is surveying. It is explained more in detail here, but in the environmental lens, it is done to see if there are any damages that may occur. If these damages cannot be mitigated, then the cutting and filling process cannot occur, and the engineers have to find a different site.

With reference to the site plan, cutting occurs. One of the major concerns of this step is not losing too much of the excavated material. This is because losing too much of this material may fall in violation of environmental law (such as CEQA), and limit the resources at disposal for future filling. Also, there needs to be a specific area to place this dirt. Because of this, such a process needs a combination of excavators, bulldozers, and extra space.

After this, the filling process occurs. This involves dispersing the excavated material across the site, typically in an even manner. This may involve calculations on the surface area of the site, and the total mass of the excavated material.

To finish this process, compaction occurs. This pushes the redistributed material down to stabilize the foundation. However, in cases where this material does not provide enough stability, geogrids and other stabilizing materials need to be incorporated into the dirt to create this stable foundation.

So how long does this process take. Generally, the time span ranges from 3 days to weeks. But in large-scale developments, these time spans yield towards the weeks range.

The motive of cutting and filling is to generate a stable foundation with the existing resources. So, there is a simultaneous motive to preserve as much material as possible. It is the duty of engineers, project managers, and construction leaders alike to maximize the efficiency of technology, create accurate calculations, and avoid any circumstances (weather, legal concerns) that may delay this process.