New roadway construction in view of a housing development in Arvada, Colo., required a retaining wall to support a deep cut into a slope. To provide an aesthetically pleasing wall, Hayward Baker Inc. built a 6,200-square-foot, four-level soil nail wall with a sculpted shotcrete facing.
“Sculpted shotcrete offers the benefit of the proven effectiveness of traditional shotcrete over cast-in-place concrete in terms of cost and time savings,” says Tom Szynakiewicz, senior project manager.
The traditional portion of the soil nail wall was constructed in excavated lifts from the top of the wall to the final bench on the slope. The face of each lift received a 4-inch-thick layer of reinforced structural shotcrete. After completing the final lift, the shotcrete crew worked from manlifts to construct a 4-inch-thick architectural sculpted wall over the face of the soil nail wall. After curing the sculpted facing, the team stained the shotcrete to match a natural rock face in the area.
“Sculpted shotcrete allows aesthetically pleasing surfaces that can maintain the look of the surrounding environment or enhance the surface of existing walls or earth retention systems,” says Szynakiewicz.
The project safely stabilized the slope while leaving the homeowners with a view from their backyards of a natural-looking rock formation.
