REConews

Location: Kennesaw, GA When the city officials of Kennesaw, Georgia decided that they needed to construct a pedestrian tunnel beneath the railroad tracks that run through the middle of downtown Kennesaw, they quickly realized the great opportunity that was presented, given the historical significance of the site. This is the location of the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History and the restored passenger depot of the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway. This is the very heart of the Kennesaw historic district, where the city holds its Big Shanty Festival every spring.

This was also the location where the locomotive “The General” was stolen by Union soldiers during the Civil War, setting off the “Great Locomotive Chase” as Confederate soldiers chased the locomotive

down and eventually recovered it. The General has been fully restored and is housed in the Museum in Kennesaw. The General is the enduring symbol of Kennesaw, as its’ image is everywhere, including the city logo.

Not wanting to miss out on such a grand opportunity, the city hired MACTEC Engineering and Consulting, Inc. of Kennesaw to design an interpretive walkway from the new tunnel to the museum. The walkway would feature a series of nine 5 by 10 ft descriptive porcelain enamel panels, eight of which would feature reproductions of Wilbur G. Kurtz paintings depicting the “Great Locomotive Chase”. The ninth panel would be a photo collage recounting the history of Kennesaw. In order to make this work in the space provided, MACTEC realized that they were going to need to construct a series of retaining walls. MACTEC contacted The

Kennesaw Pedestrian Underpass“The Great Locomotive Chase”

In this IssueCover Story: Kennesaw Pedestrian Underpass ......................................1

Upcoming Events ...............................................2

Mullica River Bridge .........................................3

I-15 North Corridor Design-Build ...............4

MSE Wall Replaces Steepened Slope .........5

Mitchell Interchange ........................................6

RECo Around the Globe ...................................7

MENARD Installs Controlled Modulus Columns™ ........................................7

Meet Your Regional Manager .......................8

Winter 2010-2011

Picture Frame Mural Panels “The General”

www.reinforcedearth.com1.800.446.5700

Cover Story: Continued on Page 2

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Reinforced Earth Company (RECo) primarily because of the cost savings of constructing Reinforced Earth walls over conventional, cast-in-place walls.

RECo engineers worked closely with MACTEC and the City of Kennesaw officials through a series of meetings to develop the look that was desired by adding various architectural features to the walls. RECo engineers were able to design “picture frame” panels into the walls, which highlighted the nine mural panels. One of the walls also included a 9 by 30 ft 3D relief of “The General” cast into the wall panels.

Once everyone involved had agreed to all of the various architectural details, the project was put out for bid in November, 2008. The project was awarded to the low bidder, JJE Constructors, Inc. of Norcross, GA in January of 2009. JJE selected RECo to supply the components for the retaining walls, and wall construction began in January, 2010. As construction of the walls, which support the CSX rail lines, progressed RECo engineers worked closely with JJE Constructors’ crew at the site to ensure that all of the architectural features were properly constructed and that everything fit together properly. Because of the intricate nature of some of the features, precast tolerances were especially tight for this project. To ensure a successful project, all of the precast panels

for this project were cast at RECo’s in house plant in Newnan, GA, with the exception of the 9 by 30 ft 3D relief of “The General”, which was cast at RECo’s precast plant in Waco, Texas, where they have a wealth of experience casting these types of panels.

The crew for JJE Constructors did a great job of building the walls on this project, and

is to be commended. The finished product looks fantastic. The City of Kennesaw is very happy with the finished product. They now have a magnificent interpretative walkway next to the museum which many future generations will be able to enjoy and be proud of. RECo is honored to be a part of such a historic project.

Reinforced Earth® Supporting CSX Rail Lines

Cover Story: Continued from Page 1

Upcoming EventsWorld of Concrete

January 16-22, 2011 .........................Las Vegas, NV

TRB January 23-27, 2011 .................... Washington, DC

SAME 2011 March 24-27, 2011 .......................... Grapevine, TX

2011 Design Build for Transportation March 28-31, 2011 ..................... Kansas City, MO

Geo-Frontiers 2011 March 3-16, 2011 ......................................Dallas, TX

Geo3T2 April 5-6, 2011 .........................................Raleigh, NC

VTCA Conference April 6-8, 2011 ..................................... Hampton, VA

International Bridge ConferenceJune 5-8, 2011 ....................................Pittsburgh, PA

ASHE National Conference June 22-26, 2011 .....................................Orlando, FL World of Concrete 2010—Las Vegas

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Location: Mullica River, NJ In October 2008 the New Jersey Turnpike Authority advertised the first Project of a multi- phased plan to widen the Garden State Parkway from Exit 80 in Toms River to Exit 30 in Somers Point over the next several years. Construction of the Mullica River project will widen the road from two to three lanes in each direction between mileposts 63 and 80 and is expected to finish by December 2011.

Upon review of the Mullica River bid documents RECo found, in addition to our potential scope of work, several items that would be of interest to our Solentanche Freyssinet affiliates, Menard and Freyssinet. For Menard, there were stone columns called for under the MSE walls and for Freyssinet, there were modular expansion joints and post tensioned girders. RECo transmitted this information to our sister companies and proceeded with preparing its scope of work of the project.

The proposed MSE walls were exposed to a marine environment and consisted of standard precast faced MSE retaining walls as well as two-staged MSE retaining walls. Two-stage systems are utilized when high differential settlement are expected and consist of erecting a Terratrel® wire wall in the first stage and after the primary settlement of the structure is complete, precast facing panel are attached to finish the erection process. Menard, after review of the plans and geotechnical report, contacted RECo and relayed their belief that the two-stage MSE wall and stone column system

specified in the contract plans could be substituted by a standard precast faced MSE retaining wall with Controlled Modulus Column™ (CMC) support.

RECo agreed that this was a viable solution since the CMC system would reduce differential settlement to well within the acceptable range for a single stage MSE wall. RECo-Menard proposed this alternative as a Value Engineering (VE) solution to Agate Construction who was awarded the contract by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority. Agate was receptive to the VE proposal and directed RECo and Menard to proceed with the alternative design.

The RECo-Menard team coordinated their work on this combined system taking into consideration the location, depth and spacing of CMCs, design of the load transfer platform between the top of the CMCs and

the base of the wall, and the additional stresses applied to the bottom row of reinforcing strips.

The alternative design was approved by NJ Turnpike Authority and installation of the CMCs commenced in October 2009. Agate then began installing the 58,000 SF of MSE panels in February 2010 and is currently finalizing the wall erection. This innovative solution was cost efficient, less time consuming, and beneficial to all parties.

Freyssinet was also awarded a contract with Agate Construction to supply and install 13C15 Post Tensioning anchorages and accessories, plastic ducts and 0.6-inch strands, and stressing and grouting of tendons for the concrete spliced I-girder bridge which is 1,230 feet in length. The mobilization for this portion of the project began in the spring of 2010.

Mullica River BridgeRECo and Menard Combined Technologies Lead to Innovative Cost Efficient Solution

Reinforced Earth® Exposed to Marine Environment

CMCs Support Reinforced Earth® Walls

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Location: Las Vegas, NVIn May 2007, the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) received proposals for the widening of a 6-mile section of Interstate 15 between US 95 and Craig Road, north of downtown Las Vegas. This portion of I-15, built in the 1960s with no major improvement since its opening, has witnessed traffic growth to more than 170,000 vehicles per day. For the first time, NDOT elected to use the design-build concept for this project. Unlike the more traditional design-bid-build delivery method, design-build allows constructor input for innovative design and construction methods and allows actual construction to start while the design is still taking place.

The design-build project was awarded to North Corridor Constructors (NCC), a joint venture between CH2M Hill, a global engineering and construction firm, and Las Vegas Paving Corporation, a leading construction and paving company in the Southern Nevada Valley. In early May 2007, The Reinforced Earth Company (RECo) was solicited by Las Vegas Paving to provide a quotation for the design and supply of 190,000 square feet of MSE walls. Very little information was given to RECo at bid time as the project was not fully designed. Therefore, in order to mitigate the risk to the contractor and to itself, RECo developed a preliminary proposal to NCC based on local expertise and previous experience on large design-build projects.

As NCC progressed in the design, they quickly realized the potential savings in using MSE walls under bridge abutments as opposed to traditional cast-in-place retaining walls. Yet, in order to maintain minimum traffic on I-15, NCC phased the construction of the bridges and therefore the construction of the walls under the bridge abutments. They discovered that the design of these walls would be a challenge since the severe skew between I-15 and the surface streets resulted in the development of acute corners with angles as small as 50 degrees. In February 2008, NCC contacted RECo for technical advice on the complex MSE wall configuration. Reinforced Earth’s unique reinforcing strip system consists of discrete soil reinforcements bolted to a precast panel. The bolted connection allows the skewing of the reinforcing strip and facilitates its installation around obstructions such as abutment piles. In addition, the reinforcing strips may be used in acute corner

situations to tie across each face of the corner. RECo presented these benefits and its design solutions to the challenges presented by NCC. The unmatched experience of RECo’s team and the superior design solutions proposed convinced NCC to choose RECo as their MSE “partner.”

In March 2008 NCC issued RECo a contract for the design and supply of 29 walls totaling 189,100 square feet. 123,000 square feet of MSE walls were directly supporting a roadway and 65,100 square feet of MSE walls were designed under bridge abutments. The walls were designed to support an additional lateral load of 40,000 pounds per pile imposed by the bridge movement during a potential seismic event. RECo designed the acute corners with bin walls using a combination of precast panel walls and galvanized wire faced walls. Tied across reinforcing strips and long skewed reinforcing strips were utilized to stabilize the acute corner bin walls against the imposed earth pressure loads. Permanent wire walls were also utilized in phase two to eliminate any “side” earth pressure on the bin walls.

As the design commenced, RECo started the fabrication process of the form liners to provide an aesthetically pleasing finish on the MSE walls. The architectural pattern is composed of a custom fractured fin finish

in the background with a series of waves strategically located in the wall layout. RECo worked closely with the architect, Design Workshop of Stateline, NV, to position the waves as the panel design was still taking place. This was done in order to speed up the design process. Fast Formliners, Inc. of Pacific, MO supplied the form liners.

RECo’s engineering and operation staff worked closely with the NCC team to optimize the design and coordinate material deliveries in order to prevent any downtime to NCC installation crews. Material deliveries took place between July 2008 and July 2009 with panel production peaking at 65 panels

I-15 North Corridor Design-BuildAmerican Transportation Award Winner for Time Saving and Innovative Construction Methods

Acute Corner Bin Wall Detail

Reinforced Earth® Abutment with Fractured Fin and Wave Architectural Treatment

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Location: Rifle, CO In 2009 Kelley Trucking, contacted the local RECo office in Denver regarding a project they were contracted to perform at the Garfield County Airport located in Rifle, CO. The airport was undergoing improvements to its facility, including lengthening the runway. A soil cement one-to-one slope approximately 100 feet tall was planned to achieve the desired new elevation for the runway. Timing had become an issue with the winter months looming which would interrupt construction of the slope to the desired final elevation.

In order to complete the runway lengthening and be certified in time by the FAA to allow the airport to maintain

its accreditation, a collaborative effort was undertaken between Kelley Trucking and RECo who presented the advantages of constructing an MSE wall in place of a steepened slope to the Owner. This value engineering proposal highlighted five key features that would be accomplished while achieving the grade separation required through the use of an MSE wall. This alternate would give the airport the time they needed, allow the use of processed on-site backfill materials, improve the drainage characteristics of the site, give the space to allow an access road they desired, and save the municipality a considerable amount of money. The airport was very interested

in the concept and ultimately decided that a wall was the preferred choice for their project.

In November of 2009 RECo was contracted to design and supply a 22,500 SF “L” shaped retaining wall, which due to marginal global stability safety factors has strip lengths reaching up to three times the height of the wall. Several architectural options were considered eventually settling on an ashlar stone pattern. Once complete, a large architectural feature will be affixed to the MSE wall advertising the airport. The completion of this endeavor marks the second successful collaboration between RECo and Kelly Trucking on an airport related project.

MSE Wall Replaces Steepened SlopeSaves Owner Considerable Time and Money

per day in order to accommodate the needs of NCC’s day and night installation crews. By August 2009 installation of the MSE walls was complete.

In December 2009, NCC celebrated the early completion of the project with a total project duration of just 28 months, which enabled NDOT to shave a year off the project timeline. The I-15 North Design-Build project has been recognized with an American Transportation Award for time saving and innovative construction methods. RECo is proud to have contributed to this successful venture and to have brought innovative MSE solutions to NCC and NDOT at acute corner and abutment locations.

Construction of “L” shaped Reinforced Earth® Wall

Reinforced Earth® Bridge Abutments

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Location: Milwaukee, WI Interstate 94 N-S is the primary artery between Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Chicago, Illinois, two of the major international ports on the western Great Lakes. It is the most travelled highway segment in Wisconsin with the Mitchell Interchange section handling over 195,000 vehicles per day. In 2004 the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission recommended reconstruction of the 35 mile corridor between Mitchell Interchange at I-43, just

south of Milwaukee, to the state border with Illinois. A previous 3 year study showing increased traffic congestion and a sharp increase in incidents of major injury accidents prompted the commission’s recommendations for full reconstruction of the 40 year old highway segment. Starting with the Mitchell Interchange in the north the highway would be updated by adding two additional lanes in each direction along with replacing the outdated entrance and exit ramps at the major intersections.

In February 2010 Walsh Construction was awarded the construction contract to build the first phase of the Mitchell Interchange section from Interstate 43 to College Avenue, a 5 mile segment which includes the main spur to The Mitchell International Airport. There are 11 pile/pier supported bridges being reconstructed with 22 new retaining walls in the segment. Project construction is scheduled by the contract to be completed by December 2010 forcing completion of the MSE retaining wall construction by September 2010. Given the extremely aggressive contract schedule Walsh awarded the MSE wall design and material contract to RECo based on our proven past performance and our commitment to providing enough resources to manufacture all of the MSE wall materials by the end of July 2010. In a little over 4 months over 135,000 square feet (6,100 precast facing panels) with two different architectural finishes and over 240 tons of soil reinforcing steel were designed and manufactured. Given our other commitments in the Midwest the schedule would prove challenging. By July 2010 all MSE wall materials had been manufactured and substantially delivered to the project. RECo finished the design and production of the MSE walls ahead of Walsh’s construction schedule and in turn completed an extremely successful contract with one of the largest contractors in the Midwest region.

Mitchell InterchangeRECo Completes Successful Project Ahead of Schedule

Phased Reinforced Earth® with Terratrel® Wire Wall Bridge Abutment

Precast Panels with Architectural Finish

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RECo Around the Globe

CMC Installation

Location: Argentina, Piquitas Mine, high above the sea The mining activity is booming in Argentina and this provides interesting opportunities for our local company Freyssinet - Tierra Armada SA (FTASA). At the location of Piquitas Mine, in the province of Jujuy, FTASA has designed and supplied the components for a TerraTrel® dump wall which is the Reinforced Earth® structure built at the highest elevation so far 14,780 feet above the sea level. FTASA had already been “flying high” with the Veladero Project which included 92 feet high TerraTrel® dump walls built at an elevation of 13,120 feet.

Location: India, The Panipat-Jalandhar Highway Project—When distance matters The construction of Panipat-Jalandhar highway is one of the longest stretches (180 miles) under the Golden Quadrilateral scheme, a part of National Highway Development Programme (NHDP) linking five main cities in Northern India. Reinforced Earth India is engaged in the construction of 34 MSE structures. The scope covers engineering, designing, procurement, production and installation. The structures include flyovers and underpasses for approximately 1.9 million square-feet of wall face area. This is the biggest contract ever signed by RECo India. The expected target date of completion is around the third quarter of 2011.

MENARD Installs Controlled Modulus Columns™ at Fort Belvoir Community HospitalMenard installed more than 4,900 Controlled Modulus Columns™ (CMC) at Fort Belvoir Community Hospital located in Virginia. The hospital is part of an integrated health care network providing medical services to the nation’s wounded soldiers and their families. The $800 million, 1.3 million sq ft military construction project, managed by the Corps of Engineers, was fast-tracked as part of the Base Realignment and Closure program. The project required ground improvement to support the high bearing load of the facility, which is a series of five, multi-story buildings connected to form one structure, plus two parking garages, one anchoring each end. Due to the aggressive schedule, Menard proposed an alternative solution to rammed aggregate piers by specifying CMCs, an economical technique for strengthening ground and increasing its load bearing capacity, while allowing for faster installation and improved sustainability via limited site import/export.

Affiliations—News Flash

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Meet Your Regional Managers

Tom Michalik Servicing AK, ID, OR, WA, MT, WY, CO, NE, KSTom Michalik was employed by RECo in November 1994 as a Project Administrator and was located in the Lake Forest, CA office. He was quickly promoted to Project Engineer and over the following years held various other positions in the Western Region which include Project Manager and Sales Assistant. In 2003 Tom was promoted to Region Manger for the Western Region which, at the time, included CA, HI, AZ, NV, WA, OR, ID, and AK . Due to Divisional expansion and reorganization a Regional office in Denver was established in 2008, where Tom currently resides. He is a graduate of San Diego State with a BS in Mechanical Engineering.

Guinn Gandy Servicing MO, IA, SD, ND, MN, WIGuinn joined RECo in 2004 as part of the acquisition of the Foster Geotechnical group. Prior to joining RECo Guinn was the Retained Earth Regional Manager in Chicago for the L.B. Foster Company. In his previous 16 year tenure with Retained Earth Guinn served throughout the US as Design Engineer, Project Manager and ultimately was promoted to Regional Manger in the Midwest territory. Guinn has extensive technical knowledge and practical experience with Mechanically Stabilized Earth Walls. Upon joining RECo he served as Operations Manager for the Midwest region and was recently promoted to Regional Manager. Guinn is a graduate of The University of Texas with a B.S.C.E. degree.

Jack Stewart, P.E. Servicing AL, GA, MS, SC, TNJack was employed by RECo in 1986 as an Assistant Project Manager. He was shortly thereafter promoted to Project Manager and, eventually, Operations Manager for the Southeast Division, which at the time included AL, FL, GA, KY, MS, SC, TN and Puerto Rico. In 1994, Jack became Regional Manager for the current Southeast Region. In 2006, he took on the additional responsibility of Division Manager which includes the Southeast and Florida Regions. Jack has been in the Atlanta office for his entire RECo career.

Prior to joining RECo, Jack received his BCE from the Georgia Institute of Technology and worked seven years for Georgia Department of Transportation. Jack is a registered P.E. in the state of Georgia and is an active member of ASCE.

Michael Louis, P.E. Servicing CA, AZ, NV, UT, HIMichael was employed with RECo in February 2001 as an intern located in the Atlanta Regional office. In June 2002, he continued employment with RECo as a Design Engineer. In 2005, Michael relocated to the West Coast as a Project Manager covering CA, NV and AZ. In 2008, he took on the position of South-West Regional Manager.

Michael is a graduate of the “Ecole Speciale des Travaux Publics” (ESTP) in France with a BS in Civil Engineering and he also earned a MS in Geotechnical Engineering from Northwestern University in 2000. He is a registered PE in California and has co-authored several technical papers in the field of Geotechnical Engineering.

Tom Schick, P.E. Servicing TX, OK, NM, LA, ARTom Schick graduated with a BS in Civil Engineering from the University of Maryland in 1977. The first 4 years of his professional career were spent with Conrail where he gained experience in the railroad industry. Then in May of 1981, he began his current employment with The Reinforced Earth Company. Tom has been based in RECo’s Dallas office for all 29 years of his tenure. During that time, Tom also earned an MBA from the University of Dallas. Tom’s active membership in ASCE includes service as the Fort Worth Branch President. He has also served on an AREMA structures committee. For the last 27 years, Tom has been a licensed PE in both Maryland and Texas.

Coming in Spring 2011—Meet Your Project Managers