Constructing a Decline Truck Entrance Tunnel Into Rock Reserves Located Beneath a College Campus

In the Kansas City metropolitan area, mineable Bethany Falls Limestone occurs 80 ft below river level under the 700 acre Park College Campus on the north bank of the Missouri River at Parkville. For 20 years prior to this project various firms passed over this opportunity to mine this property for construction aggregate because of uncertain costs, financial risk, and the difficulty of constructing an entry tunnel. This paper describes the drill and blast construction, rock bolting, and shotcrete lining of a 750 ft. long, 15% declining grade, truck tunnel through several Pennsylvanian limestones and shales.