Quote Originally Posted by rspears View Post
jb, they may be cutting out the roadway to reduce the incline, leaving the hillside along the shoulder, well off of the road surface. I can show you places down in SW Missouri, NW Arkansas where the road surface passes between shear rock walls forty to fifty feet high, and similar angled bore holes are clearly visible top to bottom. Drill, excavate on one side, then start shearing off the rock in sections. Don't know if they may use small, precision directional shots to speed the process, but I could get the full story with a phone call.

Here's a picture of a deep, terraced cut as an example of what I think you may have seen. Not sure of the location....

Attachment 64389
It's hard to say definitively; but I'm pretty sure you've nailed it Roger.
It appears that the strata is horizontal and the drill holes upandicular, i.e. angled back from the roadway; but straight up and down within that plane.

I'm picking it was done (as you intimated,) so that the excavator operator could shear the face off more accurately; like tearing stamps off a serrated sheet.

It's just I've never seen that done before.