26th Street Emergency Repair. Baltimore, Maryland.
A century-old, 35’ tall stone masonry retaining wall located between the CSX Transportation railroad tracks and East 26th Street collapsed onto the tracks below, halting rail traffic through to the Port of Baltimore and forcing the evacuation of 19 homes. WRA mobilized to survey and monitor the site on the night of the incident as well as monitor and execute a remediation plan. WRA oversaw placement of a temporary 20’ high rock buttress utilizing on-site granite blocks to stabilize the 30’-35’ high slope and designed a temporary soldier pile and lagging wall with tie-backs along the centerline of East 26th Street. This allowed for the crews to then excavate everything between the face of the pilings and the railroad tracks, build a new 40-ft. cast-in-place wall, backfill and restore the street.
Services Performed
Project Highlights
Mapping/GIS/Surveying
WRA mobilized to survey the site, and set-up survey monitoring points along the houses on the night of the incident. Monitoring continues throughout construction on a regular basis to monitor for movement.
Geotechnical
WRA provided initial disaster response with on-site advice on 24-hour basis while developing a foundation design concepts for both the temporary H-pile /lagging wall and the permanent concrete retaining wall with immediate implementation. Monitored fast-track foundation construction full-time basis.
Structural
Design or a temporary soldier pile and lagging wall to allow for the installation of a permanent 40-ft. tall, cast-in-place retaining wall. Wall incorporated architectural treatments and was coordinated with CSXT and the Contractor for addressing constructability challenges at the site.
Water/Wastewater
The incident forced the evacuation of 19 homes in the city’s Charles Village neighborhood of row homes along with the need to reconstruct sewer, gas and water lines and services along the corridor. WRA worked with Baltimore City DPW to design sewer and storm drain replacements along the corridor.