PROJECT SUMMARY:
Where the Cross-County Metrolink extension makes its way
through Clayton engineers needed a wall system to support the
newly renovated Forest Park Parkway as it crossed over the
light rail tracks. Special walls were called for and this project was a way for
Ideal to expand its knowledge and technical ability by tackling
a type of project it had never undertaken before.
PROJECT SOLUTION:
Ideal crews used a wall design from Robertson Engineering of
Texas to build an MSE (Mechanically Stabilized Earth) wall
system. Although originally designed as a modular wall,
it was decided by Metro and St. Louis County to redesign with
the panel system because of its longer track record in this
type of project. Specially
manufactured panels from McCann Concrete of Dorsey, Illinois
were used to clad these walls beginning near the Ritz Carlton
heading northeast toward Pershing.
SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS:
These two walls would have to hold up the weight of the roadway
and all traffic on the new Forest Park Parkway at Forsythe
Avenue leading into Clayton. As with every project, but
specifically here, safety was a concern as crews working to
install the panels were several dozen feet in the air.
PROJECT RECORD:
The panel wall under
construction in Clayton.
A view of backfill
behind the nearly completed wall. The Forest Park
Parkway was built atop this fill.
A panel is lowered
into place by crane, guided by an Ideal worker.
Excavation and
backfill behind the wall panels as the wall is slowly
pieced together.
Timbers hold up the
wall temporarily as it's being constructed.
Framing timbers are
used to stabilize the wall until all of the panels have
been locked into place.
