Hayward Baker was among the contractors called in for emergency repairs to a failed retaining wall in Baltimore that destabilized a slope, causing a landslide that enveloped cars and threatened a railroad track below. The final episode of the slope failure was caught on video and showed several cars being swallowed. GeoPrac sponsor, Hayward Baker is currently on-site installing a temporary soldier pile lagging wall with tiebacks to facilitate the construction of a permanent wall. They are anticipating to have the temporary wall complete in August. [Source: Read more about the project at Haywardbaker.com. Image: Hayward Baker]
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North America’s Tallest MSE Retaining Wall
[Update Jan 28, 2008] It appears as if the Port of Seattle is in some hot water for some alleged shady dealings with one of the contractors on the project. More at Seattle Times. [/Update]
Erosion Control magazine has an interesting article on MSE Walls. I think the tie-in of MSE Walls with erosion control is a little questionable (they did mention wall drainage a few times), but the article highlights several interesting projects, particularly the Seattle-Tacoma Airport or Sea-Tac Third Runway Project retaining walls. The West wall for that project is the tallest MSE Wall in North America, 130-ft at its highest point. More after the break. (Photo by Sea-Tac Airport)
Side Hill Retaining Walls – Part 2
In this part 2 of 2, various types of retaining walls are examined as possible alternatives in a side-hill retaining wall situation. These include conventional wall types such as CIP walls, MSE walls, gravity walls and soldier pile walls and some less conventional approaches such as lighweight concrete fill, hybrid soil-nail and geofoam wall systems, ground improvement and micropile walls.
Part 1 of this Side Hill Retaining Wall article covered the definition, significance, problems and failure modes, investigation techniques, analysis, and construction considerations of side hill walls. A PDF version is now available for download as well. Click through for the article and the download link!