Toyota Motor Manufacturing

Location: Georgetown, Kentucky

Project Engineer : Wayne Karem

Dr. Karem, while at other firms was the field engineer for the site
development and the foundation installation of a new
manufacturing facility located in central Kentucky. The entire
facility consisted of over 7 million square feet of manufacturing
and assembly buildings. The buildings were primarily supported on drilled shaft foundations ranging in diameter from 36 inches to 9 feet. The facility was constructed on engineered fill consisting of a rock/soil mixture consisting of 70 percent soil and 30 percent crushed limestone rock that was crushed on site. Portions of the structure had floor loads up to 2,000 psf, and press pits extending 30 feet below finish floor level. Site grading required placement of approximately 3.5 million cubic yards of fill. Over 117,000 cubic yards of concrete were used, and 70 acres of built-up roof was constructed.

Site conditions presented several significant challenges. Construction of the original plant had produced extensive volumes of rock and soil mixtures, topsoil, and construction debris, which were unsuitable for use as fill. The material had been loosely dumped in ravines, which were within the footprint of the expansion. Due to the valley and ridge topography and geology of the area, much of the material cut from higher elevations was layered shale and limestone.