Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1521495
20 | J U N E 2 0 2 4 Landscape Products Approximately 1.2 kilometres (km) of the road has been lined with retaining walls on both sides, covering a total surface area of 9,000 square metres. The Terraforce retaining wall system was chosen for several reasons, aesthetics being a major consideration. The blocks also allowed the planting of flowers and other vegetation, and the inclusion of hume pipes facilitated the planting of trees. In addition, the Terraforce option required less soil excavation and was more cost-effective than reinforced concrete or reinforced earthen walls would have been. One of the main challenges of this project was that additional cutting into the embankments for the installation of geogrid reinforcement was not possible. So, soil nailing was specified and involved drilling 115-millimetre (mm) diameter holes of up to 9 metres (m) in length, perpendicular to the slope of the embank- ment. Nails were inserted into the holes and grouted, then PVC drainage pipes up to 2.5-m long and wrapped in a geotextile membrane were installed in pre-drilled holes. The slopes were then covered with a geodrain membrane, two layers of 8mm steel mesh and 100mm of shotcrete. More procedures followed, then reinforced concrete shear-key blocks were cast to form the foundations of the Terraforce walls. A mock-up section of the embank- ment was built to identify constraints and improve the installation process. Aside from its value as a reinforcing material in infrastructure projects, shot- crete is increasingly becoming sought as a solution for elaborate retaining wall systems. In 2005, Vancouver Shotcrete & Shoring Inc. (VSS) debuted to provide customers with viable and sustainable options for their construction needs. VSS has serviced various municipalities and private companies while completing over 850 top-tier shotcrete projects. Jesse Ebenal, general manager at Vancouver Shotcrete & Shoring Inc., says, "Business is great, and there are lots of large-scale retaining wall projects in the residential, commercial, and infrastructure fronts. Nevertheless, several recent projects are showcases for the level of quality we provide, one being the Highline at Garibaldi Springs rockscape retaining wall for a townhouse development in Squamish, B.C." According to Ebenal, the shotcrete retaining wall was designed to be anchored by Titan 40 IBO anchors with a test load capacity of 52,000lbs each, spaced every two metres on centre. Temporary shotcrete was reinforced with welded wire mesh; the permanent, structural shotcrete layer was reinforced with one layer of 15mm rebar placed 300mm apart, in order to span the load between anchors and bridge the joint between the shotcrete and bedrock interface. Ebenal says the construction team faced numerous challenges due to poor ground conditions, including loose rock and sand backfill, blasting of adjacent bedrock, running sands, and underground water. The procedure of applying a structurally reinforced shotcrete coat was time sensitive, and after many other steps a decorative rockscape finish was applied, hand shaped, and carved by VSS's in-house finishing crews. Rockscape retaining wall at Garibaldi Springs, Squamish, B.C. P H OTO G R A P H Y CO U RT E S Y VA N CO U V ER S H OTC R E T E & S H O R I N G I N C . SMS_Eng_Award_Mag_Ad_Dec2023_FINAL2.indd 1 SMS02_SMS_Eng_Award_Mag_Ad_March2024_FINAL.indd