Farmer's Loop Road Site Dedicated to Permafrost Research

The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center's (ERDC) Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) and the National Geotechnical Experimentation Sites' (NGES) Geo Council have partnered to advance permafrost research in soils.

Members of ERDC and the Geo Council celebrated with a Farmer's Loop Road dedication ceremony on Sept. 23, in Fairbanks, Alaska.

CRREL owns and maintains the Farmer's Loop Road site which consists of 135 acres of ice-rich permafrost soils, making it ideal for testing the response of piling and other foundations to permafrost creep and frost-jacking. Geotechnical and transportation research has been conducted at this site since the late 1940's. Past projects have included experimental permafrost foundations, the measurement of frost heave forces on piles, long-term influence of vegetation on permafrost stability, experimental road surfaces, insulation of roads and thawing of permafrost by passive solar means. Most recently, Farmer's Loop Road has been used by CRREL for bioremediation research.

"Farmer's Loop Road can trace its history back to the mid 1940's and the completion of the Alaskan-Canadian Highway, one of the epic construction projects undertaken during World War II. Many people don't realize that the Corps of Engineers played an important role in the ALCAN Highway construction," said Dr. James Houston, ERDC Director, in his dedication ceremony remarks. "The construction of the ALCAN Highway was not without problems and suffered considerable failure due to an almost unknown-at-the-time phenomena called permafrost. It was the difficulties working in cold regions and with permafrost that led to the creation of the site we are standing on today."

With the addition of the Farmers Loop Road site, the NGES Program now has seven sites available to the geo-community to advance the state-of-the-art in the areas of in-situ field testing, field instrumentation, prediction of soil behavior and foundation prototype testing.

The Geo Council serves as a forum for exchanging ideas and information among geo-engineering associations and professions, construction organizations, and government agencies. It was founded in 1996 in recognition of the growing importance of geotechnologies in shaping the American future.

CRREL is one of seven laboratories that comprise the Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC). The ERDC is the premier research and development facility for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with more than 2,000 employees, $1.2 billion in facilities, and an annual research program exceeding $660 million. It conducts research in both military and civil works mission areas for the Department of Defense and the nation.

CRREL is the only Department of Defense laboratory addressing problems and opportunities unique to the world's cold regions. Located in Hanover, N.H., CRREL has field offices in Fairbanks and Anchorage, Alaska.