A century ago, the village of Saranac Lake, N.Y., built a beautiful cobblestone masonry wall to hold back a hillside and allow a road to be built. After years of doing its job, though, stones ranging from baseball-size to basketball-size were falling out of the wall with each freeze and thaw, making it a hazard for pedestrians and motorists.
In 2009, the village decided it was time to tackle the issue. To find the best solution, the village contacted Joe Garso, P.E., principal engineer of North Woods Engineering, for a recommendation.
“The village had a limited budget and wanted to use a product they could install themselves,” Garso explained. “ Redi-Rock was a great fit due to its modular nature and ease of installation. The village was able to use all their own equipment and their own crew, plus the aesthetics of the finished product looked like it fit into the village. It seemed to make the best sense to do a Redi-Rock wall here.”
Redi-Rock has been used in successful road, bridge and DOT projects in multiple states and has a proven track record for building tall gravity walls, and even taller reinforced walls. With Redi-Rock, you can:
- Install massive, 1-ton blocks like giant Legos;
- Rely on wet-cast concrete for durability in freeze-thaw cycles;
- Choose from three textures: Ledgestone, Cobblestone and Limestone; and
- Minimize excavation and road closures by using gravity solutions.
“Part of the advantage of using a Redi-Rock gravity wall was that they didn’t have to dig up the park to put the wall in,” explained Tim Dodd of Redi-Rock Walls of the Adirondacks. “They didn’t have to excavate to install grid.”
In total, 65 linear ft of masonry wall needed to be removed and replaced. The height of the wall varied from 8 to 10 ft.
“A lot of people were concerned when they found out that the cobble masonry wall would be replaced with a concrete block wall,” Garso said. “But the aesthetics of the Redi-Rock Cobblestone texture has been a great fit and people have been really happy with it.”
Dodd added: “The Department of Public Works was really pleased, and we’ve had absolutely no problems with the wall whatsoever. It all came together really well.”
For projects that require reinforced walls, the new Positive Connection (PC) System from Redi-Rock addresses the long-term connection requirements in the AASHTO LRFD specifications. The PC System provides superior seismic performance over other geosynthetic-reinforced wall systems and utilizes a corrosion-free reinforcement system without special connection components—making it a perfect solution for transportation projects.
