REConews

Location: Rockland County, New York Nearly four years in the making, ECCO III Enterprises is finishing up punch list items for completion of The Relocation of Short Clove Road to Route 9W in the Village of Haverstraw, New York.The project was designed to resolve a traffic safety concern that has existed for a long time, consisting of Short Clove Road traffic crossing the CSX Railroad at grade to get to Route 9W. The crossing was recognized as one of the worst in New York State due to a high level of train activity, steep grades, and haul truck traffic from the Tilcon Quarry operation in Haverstraw (www.Haverstrawlife.com).The $35M project was made possible by Federal and State funding, and the hard work of state and local government. The project has improved the flow of traffic in and out of the village of Haverstraw and will aid the economic growth and revitalization of the village center.

New York State DOT let the project on April 3, 2008 and the contract was awarded to ECCO III Enterprises, Inc. of Yonkers, NY. The project officially broke ground on October 14, 2008, and three years later on October 28, 2011, the new overpass officially opened to traffic.The Short Clove Road intersection with Route 9W was diverted 1500 feet to the North by constructing more than 1700 lineal feet of roadway embankment ramping up from the village of Haverstraw to Route 9W. The roadway includes two new bridges, one spanning Riverside Avenue and the other spanning the heavily utilized CSX Railroad.The Reinforced Earth Company (RECo) was selected to supply the Mechanically Stabilized Earth (MSE) system components for the project. More than 80,000 square feet of Reinforced Earth® was constructed to

Relocation of Short Clove RoadVillage of Haverstraw

In this Issue

Cover Story: Relocation of Short Clove Road ............. 1

State of the Practice of MSE Design .... 3

I-25 & Santa Fe Interchange ................... 4

RECo Around the Globe ............................ 5

Upcoming Events ........................................ 5

Mining and Energy Applications .......... 6

Affiliations-News Flash .......................... 7

Bruce Forrester Viaduct .......................... 7

Meet Your Engineering Managers ...... 8

Summer 2012

CSX Railroad Bridge Overpass Reinforced Earth® Structures. up to 55 feet in Height

www.reinforcedearth.comContactUs@reinforcedearth.com

1.800.446.5700

Continues on page 2...

support the roadway embankment and four bridge abutments. The bridge beams rest on spread footings that bear directly on the Reinforced Earth structures. The retaining walls are up to 55 feet in height and are reinforced with galvanized steel reinforcing strips up to 38 feet long. The walls are designed for standard roadway traffic, bridge loads, seismic loading and the possibility of being traveled by an occasional empty off road haul truck from the Haverstraw quarry.The walls were constructed utilizing RECo’s trademark shape facing panels with a natural concrete grey Ashlar Stone finish. The walls were finished with 2100 lineal feet of precast concrete coping supporting a fence. The wall panels and coping were fabricated by William E. Dailey Precast..

Riverside Avenue Bridge Overpass

2 | REConews

Continued from cover

Typical Section - True Bridge Abutment

3

Do You Know....1. Who is responsible for each aspect of the design of MSE walls?

2. Why using 34 degrees for design of MSE walls is a good choice?

3. That extensible and inextensible reinforcements reinforce soil differently?

4. Selecting the correct design method depends on reinforcement type?

Go to: www.reinforcedearth.com to download your copy of the paper, State of the Practice of MSE Wall Design for Highway Structures, which will answer these questions and many more.

Navigate to: Technical Resources/Engineer/Technical Papers

State of the Practice of MSE Wall Design for Highway StructuresPeter L. Anderson, P.E., Robert A. Gladstone, P.E., John E. Sankey, P.E.,

The state of the practice of MSE wall design has become more complex as more and more systems, engineers and researchers have become involved in the practice. There are correct ways to design MSE walls, to apply traffic surcharge, to select design parameters and backfill, to assess service life, to address special design conditions such as bridge abutments, traffic barriers and earthquakes, and to select the wall design method itself. Yet the complexity persists, arising from policy changes and a multitude of design choices. This paper will discusses these issues and additional areas of confusion and provides clarification regarding accepted, reliable methods of MSE design that have been proven in the field for more than forty years.

Basic Mechanics of Reinforced Earth

Location: Denver, Colorado In mid July 2011 the Colorado Department of Transportation began the $32.1 million I-25/Santa Fe Drive Interchange project near downtown Denver. Hamon Contractors was awarded the job and Slaton Bros, working with The Reinforced Earth Company (RECo) and Pacheco CPI, was hired to provide the permanent and temporary retaining walls on the project. Originally constructed in 1958, the existing I-25 bridges over Santa Fe Drive are in desperate need of replacement. The interchange sees some of the highest traffic volume in the Denver metro area and is a constant site of heavy travel congestion. In the existing design traffic merges onto I-25 on the left and right sides near a curve in the highway causing a bottleneck. The new plan consists of a flyover ramp from northbound Santa Fe Drive to northbound I-25, eliminating the left-side on-ramp and improving traffic flow. Once complete, there will be four lanes on I-25 in each direction through Denver from C-470 to US 36.The new design consists of several Reinforced Earth® products blended together to meet the challenge of replacing interstate bridges in a high-traffic area. Geotrel™, a wire-faced MSE wall using high-tenacity polyester based soil reinforcements or “geostraps”, was the primary product used on the temporary wire walls with a small portion of

Terratrel®, a wire-face MSE wall using galvanized steel reinforcements, for permanent sections at the corners and ends. Terratrel is being used to back up several abutment back walls, as is common in Colorado bridge design. There are a total of 13 rectangular panel walls, some of which are connected to each other. On the largest single panel wall there is a sizable portion that adopts a Shored Reinforced Earth Wall™ (SREW) design approach. The new plan requires construction of a panel wall in front of an existing RECo wall with as little as 8 feet between the two structures topping 30 feet. This task proved to be an excellent opportunity to use a new Hilti Kwik Bolt TZ mechanical anchor in place of an epoxy system. Despite installing over 3000 anchors into reinforced concrete, the damage was minimized and installation went more rapidly than expected.

Aesthetics on the project proposed by CDOT included several goose patterns that were to be used with a sand blast background. This was accomplished by the California based Universal Precast making the goose images out of foam and epoxy-coat them for multiple pours. A construction caulk was then utilized to attach them to a sand blast liner for the desired effect. The first phase of the project is complete and the second phase is set to start later this year, with an overall completion date of July 2013. This is a good example of how teamwork with our affiliate, Slaton Bros, and working closely with local precaster Pacheco CPI has led to the successful delivery of another turnkey project in the Denver area.

Goose Images Cast into Precast Panels

New Precast Panel Wall Built in Front of Existing MSE Wall

I-25 & Santa Fe Interchange Teamwork Leads to Success

4 | REConews

Reinforcing Strip Attachment - SREW Design Approach

Foam Liner Cut-Outs

5

Upcoming Events

RECo Around the Globe

ArgentinaFreyssinet Tierra Armada Argentina was awarded the design and supply of 40,000m² of Reinforced Earth® walls for the construction of the third ring road highway around the city of Buenos Aires. This highway called “Presidente Perón” will be 23km long and the project is scheduled to be constructed within 3 years.

South Africa The worldwide demand for coal is boosting investments in the mining industry related to this mineral. A few months after the delivery of a coal slot storage in Dorstfontein, Reinforced Earth (South Africa) obtained a contract for two equivalent structures at the Kwagga North mining area of Optimum Collieries (Province of Mpumalanga). The construction of these two coal slot storages started in March 2012.

AustraliaThe Queensland government is upgrading the Port ofBrisbane motorway, a long corridor servicing this port.Soft soils are commonly found in this area and for theconstruction of the Pritchard street overpass, Menard-Bachy who was in charge of the ground improvementworks, using their proprietary system of Controlled Modulus Columns (CMC), engaged RECo Australia to undertake a customized Reinforced Earth® retaining wall design as part of a global design, supported by FEM analysis.

MAASTO 2012July 17 - 20, 2012 – Lexington, KY

Structural Engineers Assoc. of Illinois August 9, 2012 - Springfield, IL

2012 Midwest Geotechnical Conference August 15, 2012 - Columbus, OH

MINE EXPO 2012 September 24-26, 2012 - Las Vegas, NV

STGEC October 22 - 25, 2012 - Richmond, VA

26th Central PA Geotechnical ConferenceOctober 24 - 26, 2012 - Harrisburg, PA

TRB January 12-17, 2013 - Washington, D.C.

World of Concrete February 5-8, 2013 Las Vegas, NV

6 | REConews

Reinforced Earth® LNG Containment Dikes

www.reinforcedearth.com 800.446.5700

RECo solutions are ideally suited for mining, energy, and risk-management applications

Feeder Saddle in TechSpan® Precast Arch

The use of Reinforced Earth® for constructing vital elements of modern industrial and risk-mitigating settings is the foundation for RECo’s success. Over the last 40 plus years RECo has achieved worldwide recognition for providing clients with efficient, sustainable solutions for unique and complex projects.

Informed engineers and project owners in industrial fields specify RECo technologies for:•Minedump-pocketretainingwalls•Tankliquidsspillcontainment•Materialreclaimtunnels•Livemineralstoragestructures•Floodcontrolstructures•Munitionsigloos

To learn more about these specialized applications download our Risk Mitigation and Mining Infrastructure brochures at

www.reinforcedearth.com Navigate to: Technical Resources/Owner/Brochures & Presentations

Whether designing structures for mining, oil and gas, natural disasters, or blast protection, the inherent flexibility and adaptability of Reinforced Earth walls and TechSpan® arches provide methods of construction that are installed rapidly, predictably, and economically. RECo technologies are ideally suited for industrial and risk-mitigating applications due to their inherent capabilities to withstand heavy loadings, vibrations, impact, explosions, flooding, and extreme temperatures.

Forinformationandassistanceindevelopinganoptimalsolutionforyourproject,ContactUs@reinforcedearth.com

Reinforced Earth® Precast Panel Headwall

Do You Know....

The Great Lakes Wind Power Plant, owned by Ventower Industries, is a manufacturing plant for wind turbine towers located at the Port of Monroe about 40 miles south of Detroit, MI. Built on a former brownfield site, the 115,000 square foot state-of the-art manufacturing facility sits on 38 acres of a former 400-acre landfill, with another 48 acres for staging and storing towers. To improve the ground, support the high surface loads associated with the manufacturing process and limit settlement, Menard implemented a design-build ground improvement solution using Controlled Modulus Columns™ (CMCs).

The Menard solution consisted of the design and installation of 2,000 CMC elements to keep total and differential settlement within project tolerances of 1 inch total and ½ inch differential.

Because the building constructed on the site was a prefabricated Butler building, Menard installed tensioning elements in some of the CMCs to overcome the anticipated uplift induced into the footings during high winds, saving the owner the expense of increasing footing size to overcome uplift.

CMCs were also critical to eliminate contaminated soil removal at the site. CMCs are a preferred alternative for ground improvement at brownfields because they are installed using a specially-designed auger that displaces the soil laterally, with virtually no spoil and no need to dispose of contaminated soil.

The Menard solution provided ground improvement with, support of highsurface loads, uplift prevention and settlement well within project limits on time and under budget.

Affiliations-NewsFlash The Great Lakes Wind Power Plant

7

Installation of Controlled Modulus Columns™ (CMCs)

Bruce Forrester Viaduct St. Louis Avenue to Hickory Street

Reinforced Earth Retaining Wall Adjacent to Union Pacific Railroad

Location: Kansas City, Missouri

The $10.6M dollar reconstruction of the aging Bruce Forrester Viaduct was a major priority for the City of Kansas City, Missouri since it was determined that the existing bridge was structurally deficient and replacement was necessary. The viaduct extends from St. Louis Avenue to Hickory Street on Forrester Road. It is located in the Kansas City Central Industrial District and the bridge extends over Mulberry Street, Santa Fe Street and the Union Pacific Railroad. The new bridge consisted of a steel plate bridge on pile supported end-bents with Reinforced Earth® retaining walls forming the embankments for the bridge end-bents. Radmacher Brothers Excavating Company, Inc. chose The Reinforced Earth Company in January of 2010 to supply the 30,000 square-feet of Reinforced Earth (RE) retaining walls with 1,600 linear feet of precast coping for the project. The seven RE walls were completed in November of 2011.

8 | REConews

Meet Your Engineering Managers

FranHardianto,P.E.,G.E.,D.GEWesternFran joined RECo in 2006 through the acquisition of L.B. Foster Geotechnical Group and is currently the Engineering Manager for the Western Division. He joined Foster Geotechnical in 1999 and has worked in various areas of Geotech-nical Engineering since 1992.

Fran graduated with a BSCE from Parahyangan Catholic University in Indonesia and a MSCE from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is licensed as a GE in CA and OR, and as a PE in 14 Western Division states. Fran also holds a D.GE credential from the Academy of Geo-Professionals and is active in civil/geotechnical engineering community as a member of ASCE, ASTM and GeoInstitute, and as a guest lecturer at California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo.

David Hutchinson, P.E. CentralDavid Hutchinson graduated with a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Texas A&M University in 1984. The first 2 years of his professional career was spent as a Structural Engineer for varies consulting firms. In September of 1986, David began his career with RECo as a Design Engineer and over the years has advanced to his current position of Engineering Manager. David has a vast amount of RECo experience and uses his Structural & Geotechnical background to advance all RECo products.

David has been based in the Dallas office for all 25 years. He is member of ASCE and the GeoInstitute and has given several technical presentations over the years. David is also involved with several research projects for RECo which include the reinforcement pullout testing and the barrier crash testing on top of a MSE wall. David is a Registered Professional Engineer in AR, CO, IA, KS, LA, MN, MO, MT, NE, NM, OK, SD, TX, UT and WY.

John Nicholson, P.E. MidwestJohn joined RECo in 2006 through the acquisition of the L.B. Foster Geotechnical Group. He is currently the Engineering Manager for the Midwest Division which includes the Mid-West and the Great Plains Regions. John’s MSE wall experience began in 1985 with VSL Corporation’s Retained Earth Division where he held the positions of Project, Branch, and Chief Engineer. He later joined the L.B. Foster Company in a similar capacity after they acquired the Retained Earth Division from VSL Corporation in 1998. From 1997 to 2000, John worked in Salt Lake City, UT, coordinating the design activities on the original I-15 reconstruction project which consisted of both conventional and 2-stage MSE walls totaling 1.2 million sf. Prior to his MSE wall career he was employed as a civilian engineer for the US Navy.

John holds a BSCE degree from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and is a registered professional engineer in ID, IL, IN, IA, MI, NJ, NY, OH, PA, and VA.

James Sullivan, P.E. NortheastJames first joined RECo in 1988 as a Designer. Over the following nine years James advanced to Project Engineer and then to Senior Project Engineer. He worked on design projects throughout the United States encompassing a wide range of the RECo product line.

James left RECo in 1998 and went on to hold a Project Engineer position with Dewberry and Davis where he performed on a variety of Land Design and Survey projects. James also held a Project Manager position with Geostructures, Inc. where he was responsible for the installation of retaining walls and sound walls as well as ground improvement projects.

Upon his return to RECo in 2011 James assumed the role of Engineering Manager for the Northeast Division. James holds a Bachelors degree in Civil Engineering Technology from Old Dominion University and is a registered Professional Engineer in VA, MD, and PA.

FrankFordham,P.E. SoutheastFrank started his career with RECo in the early 80s as liaison to GA DOT. He quickly worked his way up the corporate ladder to project engineer. After 7 years he left RECo but returned only a year and a half later as Engineering Manager. Unfortunately due to some tough economic times Frank was laid off shortly after his return.

Frank was brought back to the fold in 2000 as Southeast Engineering Manger where it appears that “the third time is the charm”. With nearly 40 years in the industry, the wealth of experience and knowledge he has gained is invaluable to the Company and the mentoring of Southeast Division Engineering Staff.

Frank received his BCE from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1972 and became a registered P.E. in the state of Georgia in 1977. He is also registered in FL, TN, SC, AL and MS.

Coming in Fall/Winter 2012-Meet your Regional Engineers