Decatur Park District
Decatur, Illinois
August 2005

Challenge

Cart paths at the new golf course couldn’t be installed until the course was built and fairway grass was established. The course had to be dry enough to support heavy equipment with minimal damage during construction. During construction, fairway irrigation was halted, so expedited construction was vital to keep the new grass healthy. Excavated soil was used for fairway repairs.

Solution

A half-lane rotomill was used to excavate the paths to the exact width and grades required for construction. Instead of installing aggregate base material with an asphalt surface, full-depth asphalt paths (5 inches deep) were installed. This allowed for a quicker installation and stronger surface plus cost the customer less than the original design of 6 inch aggregate and 2 inch HMA.

Construction Phasing

Phase 1: Excavated the paths in two days which allowed exact control of depth and width with a minimum of traffic on the course.

Phase 2: Placed 5-inch full-depth asphalt in two lifts with Caterpillar 800D Paver in just four days.

Result

• Minimum disruption to golf course construction.
• Minimal damage to course.
• Irrigation system restarted in less than one week.
• Paths on grade and needed very little work to dress up and re-seed the edges.
• Excavated material was successfully used for dressing up edges of cart paths and touching up washed out areas on course before fall re-seeding.

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