Case Studies

Williams Drive, Burnsville, MN

The customer had to replace a failing timber wall ranging in height from 4′ to 9′ along a busy suburban street. It was important to the City of Burnsville that (a) minimal disruption to the existing property owners take place during construction, (b) several existing power poles remain in place during construction to avoid considerable expenses of moving them, (c) the wall be built without geo-grids, and (d) the wall be very durable given that it was just 3 feet from the road and in the snow / salt spray zone.

Recon was asked to study the site and propose a solution. With the help of Recon’s consulting engineer, a proposal to build the wall as a gravity wall was developed. Significant excavation was avoided. Time and money was saved. A great looking wall was created.

There were a few issues that had to be taken into consideration before building the wall. There could be no excavation into existing property owners yards and the existing power poles behind the wall could not be disturbed.

There was also a durability issue because the face of the wall was just two feet away from a busy street curb. There would be lots of road salt spray so the City of Burnsville wanted the durability of wet-cast air entrained concrete. The solution was a Recon Gravity Wall!