City officials in Chattanooga announced a plan to prevent wastewater from their combined sanitary sewer system from overflowing into the Tennessee River. The plan suggested that three massive storage tanks with a collective capacity of 30 million gallons be installed at the Hamm Road Equalizer Station. Because of the size and significance of the tanks, a maintenance access road adjacent to the tanks was required, but the only way to create access was with a strong retaining wall.
In 2020, JC Hines & Associates LLC collaborated with project design team members Ayres Associates and Strand Associates, Inc.® to design six retaining walls on this shared-use path project for the City of Madison, WI and the Wisconsin DOT. 15,000 square feet of Redi-Rock retaining wall blocks from Brown Precast were needed to complete this transformative project in one of Madison’s busiest areas.
In the fall of 2017, Filcon Construction LLC and Land Design & Development Inc. approached Redi-Rock K.I.T. to help design and construct a major retaining wall to support an access road to a new housing development in Fincastle Farm subdivision along Harrods Creek.
In 2021, Amazon announced plans to develop a package distribution facility in Lexington, KY. The proposed site required an access drive that would intersect Legacy Trail, a popular pedestrian path in the community. To preserve trail access, the construction team opted to construct a bridge overpass across a section of the trail.
ATS Construction, serving as general contractor, contacted Redi-Rock K.I.T. to construct four wing walls to flank the overpass and provide grade separation along the trail. Redi-Rock K.I.T. partnered with JC Hines & Associates to deliver optimized structural design and quality construction drawings.
The design team at JC Hines & Associates was able to engineer the wing walls as modular gravity structures thanks to the presence of competent bedrock on site. To eliminate the need for geogrid reinforcement while maintaining structural integrity, the walls were designed with Redi-Rock’s Hollow-core XL units. All sections below-grade used XL units, while Redi-Rock’s freestanding variable-radius units were used above the finished grade.
This approach minimized the need for rock excavation, reducing construction costs and contributing to a more competitive project bid. The final design delivered a safe, cost-effective solution for supporting the bridge overpass.
Construction was completed in 2022 by Redi-Rock K.I.T.’s in-house installation team. The completed face area of the four walls was 2,3880 square-feet, with maximum individual heights of 20 feet.
In 2019, The Grove – one of Nashville’s premier private communities – planned to begin construction on a phase of retaining walls that would overlook Williamson County from its hilltop. With a grade exceeding 100 feet, the site plan required a series of ten critical retaining walls that complimented the aesthetic of the new residential development. Redi-Rock was chosen as the modular block solution for its natural stone appearance, structural integrity, and efficient installation capabilities.
In the fall of 2016, JC Hines and Associates was selected to join the design team of Watermark Residential as they finalized site design for a major new project in Chesterfield, MO. One of the nation’s top multifamily builders, Watermark had already begun planning the sprawling apartment community when they recognized that the site plans for the project would require a dozen critical retaining wall structures.
In the fall of 2015, plans were prepared for a new Dollar General store off Hwy 51 S in Hernando. The site plan for the store called for a retaining wall with a 4-foot maximum exposed height along the property line. The retaining wall would need to be constructed within five feet of the property line with no construction easement on the neighboring property.
Designing a retaining wall for this Dollar General project required solving a complex grade separation challenge within tight property constraints.
The developer for this residential subdivision property needed a retaining wall to support a cut excavation at the rear of the project site. The proposed wall would be 9 feet tall and be located only 5 feet from the property line. MMC Materials, Inc., manufacturers of the Redi-Rock retaining wall system in Jackson, Mississippi, called on JC Hines and Associates to see if Redi-Rock would work for this site.
In the summer of 2016, the Grayson County Public Library had finally settled on a new location in Leitchfield, KY. After moving several times since opening in 1980, the new building on Carroll Gibson Boulevard would become the library’s new home. Site plans were drawn and the building design was completed, but the site plan required a retaining wall to tame the hillside adjacent to the new building foundation. The excavation necessary for a conventional segmental retaining wall with geogrid reinforcement would demand the removal of most of the hillside at substantial cost. So, the general contractor for the building construction reached out to Redi-Rock K.I.T. for possible solutions.
Situated atop a high hill at the end of Daisy Lane, a new business development site was taking shape. To tame the terrain, bold engineering solutions would be required. Reaching the new Summit Springs development meant extending Daisy Lane uphill, prompting the need for five substantial retaining walls to ensure slope stability.
In March of 2017, CR Properties, LLC began construction on a mixed-use development in the midtown district of downtown Hattiesburg. Located at 31st Avenue, directly across Hardy Street from The University of Southern Mississippi, The District at Midtown will be a living, shopping and dining mixed-use development. The first phase of the development will include a 100-room Hotel Indigo and 46,000 square feet of mixed-use space that will include seven (7) restaurants, retail space and fourteen (14) apartments on the east and west sides of 31st Avenue. Phase 2 will include the construction of a 10,000-square foot building that will include retail space as well as luxury apartments.
South of Ethel, at the intersection of Hwy 12 and Hwy 739, Dollar General plotted to open a new store. This store would be home to an innovative retaining wall: one of the first of its kind in the state of Mississippi.
In the Spring of 2016, JC Hines & Associates partnered with Schreiter Concrete to develop plans for a Redi-Rock retaining wall at a QuikTrip gas station in St. Peters, MO. The wall would be located along the intersection of McClay Road and Jungermann Road, and line the border of the QuikTrip and its neighboring property.
In 2016, Rozier Construction prepared to build a discount sporting-goods store in Starkville. Located just off MS Hwy 12, Academy Sports + Outdoor had acquired an 11-acre undeveloped site that would require access roads, a parking lot, and two retaining walls.
In the early spring of 2017, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC), Department of Highways released plans for a new bridge on South Preston Highway (KY 61) to be constructed over Barley Creek. The new bridge was to be constructed where Barley Creek crosses under KY 61 just north of the intersection with Belmont Road in Bullitt County, Kentucky.
Constructing two retaining walls was the essential first step for Cobb County D.O.T. before they could begin to implement their proposed site improvements along Little Willeo Road. Two retaining walls would provide the necessary grade separation to allow road widening, and without them, there would be no viable space for sidewalk or drainage upgrades.
In the winter of 2015, a private neighborhood in Madison was preparing for a new phase of expansive development that would include a man-made canal leading directly into the Ross Barnett Reservoir, a 33,000-acre lake in the Pearl River Valley.
In early 2017, King Louie’s Sports Complex in Louisville, Kentucky expanded their 46,000 square-foot facility to include two outdoor sports fields. With two indoor turf fields and a turf training area, the sports facility is capable of hosting multiple events including lacrosse, field hockey, soccer and flag football.
In the summer of 2015, discount grocer, Aldi Inc., chose a site for a new store on Gallatin Pike in Madison, Tennessee. Although only about a half mile from an existing store, the new location would replace the existing store and provide an additional 6,500 square feet of retail space.
In 2015, the Louisville Sports Authority realized the BMX track at the Derby City facility did not meet current requirements. For the facility to maintain its status as a premier BMX race track, renovations had to be done before the Labor Day 2016 race they were slated to host. Unlike other sports venues, no BMX track is the same. The length and complexity of each course is completely different, so there was no “one size fits all” solution.
JC Hines and Associates designed this two-tiered segmental retaining wall for the entrance to an upscale outdoor shopping center near Dayton, Ohio in 2005. The wall is designed with dry-cast modular concrete block facing units and high-strength, woven geotextile that anchors the facing units and provides the required soil reinforcement for earth retention. The maximum height of this structure is 17 feet.
In 2008, JC Hines and Associates designed this segmental retaining wall to support the primary access drive to a new elementary school in the Cincinnati suburb of Mt. Healthy. The wall is designed with dry-cast modular concrete block facing units and PVC coated polyester (PET) geogrid that secures the facing system to a coherent reinforced earth mass created by multiple layers of the geogrid reinforcement. The maximum height of this structure is 19 feet.
The front entrance to this rehabilitation center in the Cincinnati suburb of Green Township required a 39-foot., two-tiered retaining wall structure. Not only was the retaining wall to be a highly visible and significant structural feature of the project, its foundation was initially planned to be located in a highly slide-prone, colluvial soil formation.
In 2012, the City of Owensboro, Kentucky secured federal funding for long-needed improvements to a major drainage channel within the city limits known as Persimmon Ditch. The design goals for the channel improvements included correcting the hydraulics of the channel to limit flooding concerns and to protect a sanitary sewer line from erosion that crossed under the stream channel at shallow depth. The planned work was further complicated by soft foundation soils and elevated seismic design requirements.
The ultimate goal of the 21st Century Parks organization is to construct a contiguous beltway of interconnected parks and outdoor recreational areas around the city of Louisville, Kentucky. In project phase 3A, designers were faced with the challenge of transitioning the new Park Road with the existing Echo Trail near Floyds Fork Creek. This ultimately required a 41-foot embankment to be constructed over soft soils. JC Hines and Associates prepared the mechanically stabilized earth retaining wall design utilizing back-to-back precast modular block walls reinforced with 12-inch strips of geogrid soil reinforcement. Construction was completed in the Spring of 2013.
At an estimated cost of $53.2 million, New Circle Road was slated to undergo widening construction between US Hwy 60 and US Hwy 421. This massive project would consist of three miles of lane additions (in each direction), shoulder widening, ramp realignments, and bridge widening. On top of all that, several retaining walls were required to provide necessary grade transitions with the proposed improvements.
The Memorial City Redevelopment Authority, a government corporation in Houston, was created to aid, assist, and act on behalf of the community. Its mandate is to promote the common good and general welfare in the Memorial City area of Houston through investments in public infrastructure. The Redevelopment Authority was chiefly concerned with roadway and drainage improvements to prevent flood damage. In the Fall of 2014, the Redevelopment Authority accepted bids for the reconstruction of Lumpkin Road between Westview Drive and Northbrook Drive.
In September 2013, the Kansas Department of Transportation accepted bids for the K-10 South Lawrence Trafficway Project. Planned as a three-year phased construction project and budgeted at nearly $130 million, the plans for the project called for the relocation and reconstruction of a portion of 31st Street between Haskell Avenue and O’Connel Road within the city limits of Lawrence, Kansas.
A growing concern from community members over safety hazards at the intersection of Rybolt Rd and Wesselman Rd influenced Hamilton County officials to act. The development of a multifamily subdivision along Rybolt would increase daily traffic along the road significantly. In April of 2014, the Hamilton County Engineer’s Office released construction plans for a $5.76 million-dollar project to update the intersection at Rybolt and Wesselman. The roads would be widened, flattened, and straightened, adding dedicated turn lanes and new sewer lines. The plan also stated that the retaining walls that had previously lined the intersection would be replaced.
In the summer of 2016, the Wyndham Hotel Group broke ground on a Wingate by Wyndham hotel at One Century Boulevard near the Nashville International Airport. The 4-story, 123-room hotel would be the first of its type in the Nashville market and part of $250 million nationwide effort to expand the mid-scale brand by more than 10% over a 2-year period. Corinthian Development Company of Morgan Hill, California, a veteran development partner to the hospitality industry and serving as the owner’s agent, selected local Nashville general contractor R.G. Anderson Company to construct the $11 million project.
In 2016, in the seat of Centre County, the historic town of Bellefonte was blooming with new developments. In effort to create a growth in the community and its local businesses, the town would revamp old sites and capitalize on construction opportunities. The Bellefonte Riverfront Development Project consisted of six gravity wall structures that would raise the riverbank out of the flood zone and provide space for a pedestrian walking path.
