California's department of transportation has constructed a realignment of a portion of highway 101 near cloverdale (about 85 miles north of san francisco). To meet slope requirements and to prevent encroachment on a railroad, construction of four soil-reinforced retaining walls--62 ft, 48 ft, 40 ft, and 37 ft high--was required. The contractor chose a soil-reinforcement system consisting of a hexagonal concrete face panel and a galvanized steel bar-mat for reinforcement. Wall costs were determined by total area of the wall faces (61, 100 sq ft) and were bid at $30/sq ft. Wall construction was completed in 1988, and the entire project was completed in 1989. This paper appears in transportation research record no. 1242, Innovative earth-retaining systems.
Abstract