The Oregon Department of Transportation has started finishing work on the towering southbound Interstate 5 retaining wall built as part of the new Iowa Street Viaduct in Southwest Portland.

Just north of the Terwilliger Curves, crews are applying an Oregon basalt overlay selected by the public two years ago. ODOT said it's the last step in building the retaining wall along the west side of the freeway.

The new wall is designed to help stabilize the hillside and deter mudslides that could block I-5.

Through a public-comment process, citizens chose Oregon basalt as the faade for the retaining wall in a 2011 vote, ODOT said. More than 400 people took part.

"Voters indicated they liked the Oregon basalt because it looked durable, connected with the regional themes and blended in with the surrounding landscape," ODOT said in a release on Friday.

The project also provides room for a future southbound truck-climbing lane.

-- Joseph Rose

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Iowa Street Viaduct: Crews finishing up towering I-5 retaining wall in Southwest Portland

Colorado Department of Transportation workers install a tiltmeter on the U.S. 34 retaining wall in the Narrows of the Big Thompson Canyon. The device, one of seven put in after construction of the temporary road, will alert engineers if the wall starts to shift. (Colorado Department of Transportation)

A solar panel at the side of U.S. 34 in the Narrows of the Big Thompson Canyon west of Loveland powers one of the seven tiltmeters installed on the retaining wall of the temporary highway. (Colorado Department of Transportation)

Dear Buck:

On U.S. 34, in the Narrows of the Big Thompson Canyon, there are some solar-powered gizmos on posts on the railings, and one on a rock wall. What are these for?

Signed: Canyon Curious

Dear Canyon:

The gizmos are tiltmeters -- high-tech levels that were installed to let engineers know if the highway's retaining walls are starting to shift, according to Colorado Department of Transportation spokeswoman Ashley Mohr.

After the September flood devastated U.S. 34 in the canyon, crews were able to quickly rebuild the highway. But as nice as it looks, it's still just a temporary road, Mohr said.

So CDOT engineers installed seven of the devices in the Narrows to make sure the repairs hold.

"Our folks have done it because they want to make sure those walls are holding up through the spring runoff," Mohr said. "If that wall moves at all and begins to give way, we'll know about it."

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Meters measure tilt of Big Thompson Canyon retaining walls

Retaining wall company passes compaction test UC Berkeley
Just one part of building a retaining wall. The nuclear test ... Contact us for any #hardscape project you have coming up...All Access Construction 510-741-4400.

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Retaining wall company passes compaction test UC Berkeley - Video

Mexico Missions January 2014 - Concrete - Retaining Wall

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Mexico Missions January 2014 - Concrete - Retaining Wall - Video

Cutting Railroad Ties with 16" Circular Saw
Railroad ties are an easy way to build a retaining wall when you don #39;t need to worry about the wall carrying a great load. Stone and block may be more attrac...

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Cutting Railroad Ties with 16" Circular Saw - Video

West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin and U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin on Monday proposed tighter regulations for chemical storage facilities after a spill contaminated the water supply for 300,000 people.

Tomblin, the Democratic governor, urged passage of a chemical storage regulatory program. The bill aims to address shortcomings that allowed 7,500 gallons of coal-cleaning chemicals to seep into the Elk River on Jan. 9. Freedom Industries, which owned the plant that leaked the chemicals, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Friday.

Freedom Industries' safety flaws, including a last-resort containment wall filled with cracks, went largely undetected, because as a facility that neither manufactured chemicals, produced emissions, or stored chemicals underground, it was not subject to environmental regulations, state Department of Environmental Protection officials have said. The chemical that spilled also wasn't deemed hazardous enough for additional regulation.

The material flowed 1.5 miles downstream and made it into West Virginia American Water Company's water supply.

Below-ground tanks storing chemicals face environmental regulations, but ones above the surface fall into a regulatory loophole, officials have said. The department made several routine visits to the Charleston site between 2002 and 2012, but found no violations.

The governor's bill, which hasn't been filed yet, would mandate annual inspections of above-ground chemical tanks, and would require water systems serving the public to draft emergency plans in case of spills.

Storage facilities would self-report locations, construction and maintenance of tanks, and file annual reports. They would need to detail their spill-prevention mechanisms, and would be subject to penalties from the Department of Environmental Protection if they don't comply.

"This proposed legislation will ensure that all above-ground storage facilities are built and maintained consistent with required safety standards," Tomblin said.

Manchin, D-W.Va., wants the federal government to set standards for state-run regulatory efforts. His proposal would require states to inspect chemical facilities that could threaten a public water system every three years. Others would be inspected every five years. States could recoup costs from responding to emergencies. The bill is also supported by U.S. Sens. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.

Both bills aim to make locations and specifics of chemical storage sites publicly available.

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Legislation proposed in WV to regulate chemicals

The iciest sidewalk in town is in a place where it never snows an underpass beneath the Gardiner Expressway.

We had a small break last week from the brutal winter weather, which gave the city a chance to get caught up on clearing sidewalks that were coated with hard packed snow, glazed by ice.

But the effort to clear a backlog of sidewalks that hadnt been shovelled seems to have missed a section of The East Mall that runs through a Gardiner underpass, south of The Queensway.

A reader posted a report last May on SeeClickFix about water oozing from a retaining wall on the west side of the underpass, saying the sidewalk is always flooded and slippery, (and) lane two of the road is always flooded.

Its been this way for years, said the reader, noting that the city has never taken an interest in fixing it.

We forgot about it until this week, when we found new comments posted to the report last week about an icy moonscape on the sidewalk.

As of Jan. 18 the sidewalk is impassable, said the reader who made the original complaint. All pedestrians have to walk on the east side of The East Mall.

If someone is injured they can use this report to prove the city has had ample notice of the problem and failed to do anything almost a year later.

Someone with mobility issues is going to get hurt trying to navigate the sidewalk.

We went there on the weekend and found a small glacier in the curb next to the road, which goes on for a distance of 20 metres or so and extends onto the sidewalk.

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No end of ice in Gardiner Expressway underpass

LANDSCAPING, ENVISIONS ASHLAND OH, 419-557-8386, RETAINING WALL, BARN STONE CONSTRUCTION
ENVISIONS LANDSCAPE CONSTRUCTION DESIGN SNOW PLOWING LLC CHECK OUT OUR A+ RATING WITH THE BBB "LIKE US ON FACEBOOK" "WE WILL MEET YOUR NEEDS PERFECTLY" TWI...

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LANDSCAPING, ENVISIONS ASHLAND OH, 419-557-8386, RETAINING WALL, BARN STONE CONSTRUCTION - Video

Retaining walls|Landscaping|Retaining Wall Contractors|St. Clairsville OH|43950
Retaining walls|Landscaping|Retaining Wall Contractors|St. Clairsville OH|43950 (304)547-9426 Looking for a retaining wall in the St. Clairsville area? Allst...

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Retaining walls|Landscaping|Retaining Wall Contractors|St. Clairsville OH|43950 - Video

LANDSCAPING, ENVISIONS, WOOSTER OH, 330-641-4109 , RETAINING WALL, BARN STONE CONSTRUCTION
ENVISIONS LANDSCAPE CONSTRUCTION DESIGN SNOW PLOWING LLC CHECK OUT OUR A+ RATING WITH THE "WE WILL MEET YOUR NEEDS PERFECTLY", TWITTER:@EnvlandConst "LIKE ...

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LANDSCAPING, ENVISIONS, WOOSTER OH, 330-641-4109 , RETAINING WALL, BARN STONE CONSTRUCTION - Video