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Cobblestone Concrete Block Retaining Wall System for Road and Street Construction

Project Name

Cline Road Restoration #132

Customer Name
Lewis County, Washignton

Design / Specifying Engineer
Keith Muggoch, P.E. and head of Engineering at Lewis County Department of Public Works

Block Manufacturer
Puget Sound Precast

Wall Installer
NW Green Construction

Project Location
Lewis County, WA

Year Built
2011

Project Scope

Tall wall, tight space

Retaining Wall for Road Repair Completed in Just 5 Days

The "before" photos of this project are not a pretty sight. A river running below this Washington road had undermined the base of the slope, while runoff had heavily eroded an extremely steep hillside above the road.

"Between the hydraulics created by the hill on the back side and the river underneath it, half of Cline Road just washed out," explained local Redi-Rock manufacturer.

Cline Road was partially closed for nearly two years before the County secured funding to repair the failed roadway in 2011.

THE SOLUTION

Searching for a retaining walls system that could build a 13.5 ft. tall wall without requiring extensive excavation, the County turned to Redi-Rock.

"Redi-Rock is capable of providing a gravity retaining wall without requiring any type of embedment," explained Keith Muggoch, P.E. and head of Engineering at Lewis County Department of Public Works. "That in turn means that the excavation is considerably less. This is a consideration in any job, but in this particular location it was a large consideration because we were working with solid rock."

THE DESIGN

The massive size of each Redi-Rock block allows retaining walls to harness the power of gravity. The County also took advantage of several blocks unique to the Redi-Rock system to make this tall gravity solution a reality.

County engineers designed the 13.5 ft. tall Redi-Rock retaining wall using 3420-pound 60 In. base blocks for the bottom two courses of the wall. The middle portion of the wall was designed with 41 In. middle blocks (weighing as much as a Budweiser Clydesdale), and the very top course was designed using 28 In. top blocks.

Redi-Rock is available in three natural stone textures—including Limestone, Cobblestone and Ledgestone. For this project, a two-tone gray Cobblestone block blended nicely with the rip rap.

THE OUTCOME

After two years of waiting for Cline Road to completely re-open, the 1,185 sq. ft. Redi-Rock wall was installed in just five days in July of 2011—and the roadway opened shortly thereafter. Redi-Rock gravity walls are very efficient to install. Each massive block is set in place using an excavator and 1-2 person crew. Since excavation is minimized, valuable time and money is saved on the installation phase of projects.

Specify Redi-Rock on your next project. Visit www.redi-rock.com to access design resources and to find your local Redi-Rock manufacturer!

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