Burlington, Mass., Jan. 17, 2024 – Haley & Aldrich has earned a 2023-24 American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) Maine Honor Award for geotechnical consulting that extended the life of a 100-year-old dry-laid granite block retaining wall supporting a frequently traveled section of U.S. Route 1.
Haley & Aldrich received ACEC Maine’s Practical Solution for a Rehabilitation Project Award in late 2023. The award recognizes our work for the Maine Department of Transportation (MaineDOT) on a critical transportation asset.
Portions of the wall showed signs of deterioration, which posed safety concerns for pedestrian and vehicle traffic, and ground surface settlement along the sidewalk above the wall could affect compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. But MaineDOT could not implement a full wall replacement, given budget and programmatic constraints. So MaineDOT engaged Haley & Aldrich for a practical, easy-to-construct, and cost-effective rehabilitation solution that would extend the life of the wall by up to 20 years, compared to the more typical 75-to-100-year design life that new MaineDOT infrastructure assets would be designed for.
“Our company’s relationship with MaineDOT goes back more than 60 years. They knew that we could take the flexible and collaborative approach needed for this project to succeed while still working rigorously to protect the safety of people and the natural environment,” said geotechnical engineer Bryan C. Steinert, P.E., who managed the rehabilitation design and construction.
Haley & Aldrich engaged several geotechnical and structural engineers from several of our Northern New England offices. They collaborated with general contractor Eurovia Atlantic Coast dba Northeast Construction on the project.
As the geo-structural consultants, we evaluated the wall’s condition and developed several conceptual rehabilitation alternatives, ultimately landing on the one that would meet project goals: removing and resetting granite blocks along the entire upper length of the wall, constructing a cast-in-place concrete buttress in front of the wall, and improving surface drainage and sidewalk conditions.
“It’s always an honor to serve our Maine community with projects that make life safer,” said Principal Consultant Wayne Chadbourne, who leads Haley & Aldrich’s East Coast surface transportation business unit from the Portland, Maine, office. “We’re proud to have this project recognized as a true collaborative effort with a longtime client and our team of committed engineering professionals.”
Learn more about the project and our team’s work.
