The Highway Innovative Technology Evaluation Center (HITEC) has finalized its comprehensive review of The Reinforced Earth Company’s (RECo) GeoMega™ MSE wall system. The review process, steered by soil reinforcement field experts, evaluated the MSE system materials, design, construction, performance, and quality control/quality assurance.
A final report, “Evaluation of the Precast GeoMega MSE Wall System,” documents the system and approval process.
HITEC AND GEOMEGA MSE WALLS
The mission of HITEC is to improve the introduction of new and innovative technologies into the transportation field, which historically has struggled to get geotechnical advances accepted into the practice. Several agencies and organizations involved in highway and transportation infrastructure engineering participate in the program. This includes representatives from all state-level departments of transportation, which provides two-way evaluations and information sharing to more efficiently share engineering insight across state borders.
The GeoMega system, which has been used in 46 projects across 10 states over the past 8 years, incorporates high tenacity polyester GeoStrap® soil reinforcement, precast concrete facing panels, and a patented synthetic insert that provides a mechanical connection of the GeoStrap to the precast concrete facing.
This approach to mechanically stabilize earth walls is ideally suited for sites with aggressive backfills or in areas exposed to seawater, while allowing for the use of a durable concrete facing.
Some of the notable projects into which RECo’s system has been used include the Port of Miami Tunnel, the I-95 Overland Bridge Replacement Project in Florida. The two projects chombined use roughly 300,000 square feet of the GeoMega system to enable long-term reinforcement and durable facing in otherwise electrochemically aggressive soil environments.
Non-highway applications have included the Los Vaqueros Reservoir Expansion in Brentwood, California, and raised-foundation walls for the support of oil tanks in Marrero, Louisiana.
For more information, contact The Reinforced Earth Company, www.reinforcedearth.com.
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For additional information on GeoStrap®, GeoMega™, and polymeric strap reinforcement of MSE systems, see also:
- Reinforced Seawall Construction under 3m Tide
- Tall Reinforced Earth® Walls with Geostrip Reinforcements
- Pullout Performance of Strip Reinforcements for MSE Walls
