Concrete and Site Work at Casper College

Hillside campuses punish careless drainage. Casper College sits on a hill between Casper Mountain and the North Platte River, so every new walk, ramp, slab and parking bay we place there has to move water off the ground and away from the buildings before it does any damage. We build concrete and site work for that kind of campus: foundations for lab and shop additions, accessible routes that stay inside slope limits, flatwork that drains in the first freeze, and the underground piping that serves it.

The campus covers more than 200 acres with 28 buildings, and it lists over 130 academic and technical programs. That tells us the work is never one big pour. It is a string of small and mid-size packages, each one tucked between existing buildings, utility lines and foot traffic. We plan the haul route, the pump position and the washout before the first stake goes in, because a ready-mix truck cannot turn around on a pedestrian mall.

Owners and design teams call us when the schedule is tight and the site is occupied. We name the yardage, the pour window and the closure we need up front, and we hold to them.

A working campus on a slope

Casper College reported 4,682 students in 2023 and organizes its programs into five schools, including Business and Industry and Health Science. Those two schools matter to a concrete crew. Technical programs need shop floors with embedded drains, equipment pads with anchor bolts cast to template, and loading areas that take a delivery truck. Health programs need clean, flat, accessible approaches and slab flatness that suits lab equipment. Both ask for more than a standard broom-finished slab.

The Tate Geological Museum at the south end of the campus is free to the public, which means visitor parking and walkways are part of the picture too. Crowds arrive on weekends and in summer, so we sequence flatwork around the public rather than asking the public to work around us. When a district or board manages a campus like this, the owner usually wants one crew that can handle concrete, grading and utilities without three separate mobilizations. That is how we staff the scope. See how we handle accessible routes and campus walks for the pieces you will touch most.

What we place and dig on a hill campus

Our campus scope starts with grading. We strip topsoil, cut to subgrade, proof-roll with a loaded truck and compact fill in lifts before any form goes up. On a slope that proof-roll is the test that finds the soft pocket under an old drain or a buried pad, and we would rather find it with the engineer watching than after the slab cracks.

From there we form and pour footings, stem walls, slabs on grade, stairs, landings, curb and gutter, and trench drains where a shop or garage needs them. We set reinforcement to the drawings and chair it to the right cover, and we pull cylinders so the lab can confirm strength. Utility work follows the same discipline: potholing before we trench, bedding and backfill to the spec, and a pressure or compaction test before we close the cut. Building teams often pair this with building pad preparation so the pad is ready the day the steel or framing crew arrives.

Frost, permits and what the city expects

The City of Casper lists a 3 foot frost line to top of footing in its engineering and climatic criteria, along with climate zone 6B, severe weathering and an air freezing index of 3,000. For a concrete crew those numbers set the footing depth, the air entrainment in the mix and the cold-weather protection we carry from October through spring. Exposed campus flatwork is salted and shoveled all winter, so we specify and finish it for freeze and thaw, not for looks alone.

City commercial permits often require a life-safety plan, engineered building and site plan drawings and Planning and Zoning approval, and an issued permit is good for 180 days. We build the schedule around that window. On a public institution the design team and the inspector carry most of the paper, and we keep our part current: mix submittals, rebar shop drawings, test reports and daily logs. On education and school projects the permit clock usually drives the sequence.

Working around classes, events and weather

The calendar decides when we can close a walk or tie into a line. Summer and the breaks between terms are the best windows for large flatwork and utility tie-ins. During term we work in short, planned closures, with barricades, signed detours and a clear path for people using assistive devices. We schedule pours early in the day so finishing is done before the afternoon wind and temperature swing.

Weather is the other calendar. If the forecast drops below freezing during a pour, we bring blankets, heated enclosures and accelerated mixes, and we do not place on frozen subgrade. In the shoulder months we watch overnight lows, not daytime highs. Public owners who bundle site and building work often talk with schools and healthcare owners in the same breath, and for good reason: the owner cares about open doors on the first day of class, and we plan backward from that date.

Keeping students and staff out of the work

Safety on a campus starts with separation. Fencing, signage and spotters keep pedestrians out of the pour zone, and we keep truck traffic off main walks during class changes. Excavations are sloped, benched or shored, flagged at night and covered or barricaded before we leave. Utility locates are called in and marked before any digging, and we pothole when a line is close to the planned cut.

We keep silica dust, noise and washout water under control, since a campus has open windows, labs and classrooms nearby. Cured slabs are saw-cut wet or with vacuum attachments. The same separation of public and work zones applies on the medical center campus and around downtown Casper, where foot traffic is just as close.

Plan the next campus package with us

Send us the drawings, the term calendar and the access limits. We will return a yardage count, a sequence and a pour window you can hand to your facilities team.

Questions Owners Ask

Can you work while classes are in session?

Yes, in planned closures. We separate the work zone with fencing and spotters, schedule deliveries outside class changes and keep an accessible path open. Large flatwork and utility tie-ins are better in summer or between terms, and we will tell you which pieces can wait.

How do you handle drainage on a hillside site?

We design the work to shed water before we pour. Subgrade is graded to the drawing slopes, proof-rolled and compacted, and flatwork gets the required crown or cross slope. Where water collects, we add trench drains or piped outlets that tie to the site storm system. The engineer of record signs off the slopes before we form.

What does the frost line mean for campus footings?

The city lists a 3 foot frost line to top of footing, so footings and stem walls go below that depth or get frost protection by design. For slabs and walks, the mix and finishing matter as much as depth, with proper air entrainment and curing. We protect fresh concrete from freezing and keep it from de-icing salt until it has reached strength.

Do you coordinate with the engineer and special inspector?

Yes. We call for subgrade, rebar and pre-pour inspections in time for the inspector to be on site, and we hold the pour if something is not signed off. Cylinders are cast and cured per the spec, and we deliver the break results to your project file.

Can one contractor handle both concrete and the utilities under it?

We coordinate trenching, bedding, backfill and pipe along with forming and pouring, which means one schedule and one point of contact. It also reduces rework, because the compaction under a slab is scheduled and inspected by the same team that manages the slab.

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