23 Jun 2024 | 07:15am IST Car driver Prakash along with three other occupants said a boulder fell just in front of his car, while another bounced few inches over his vehicle; in the second incident, a boulder broke loose from the cut mountainside at Dhargalim, and landed on a retaining wall; Oppn demands FIR against the contractor

Team Herald

PERNEM: The dangerous National Highway 66 would have taken lives of motorists at Malpem-Poroscodem, Pernem and at Mahakhazan, Dhargalim, both in Pernem taluka on Saturday, following two landslides.

Four occupants travelling in a Gujarat registered car escaped from the jaws of death at Malpem-Poroscodem, on the dangerous National Highway 66 when a boulder bounced over their car, after a landslide, smashed the retaining wall and blocked the highway.

O Heraldo had earlier highlighted the dangerous design of the low walls and the precarious and badly cut laterite mountain side which would pose a threat to the lives of commuters. The tourists hailing from Dapoli, Maharashtra were returning home following a visit to the State when the incident occurred at around 11 am.

The car driver Prakash along with three other occupants narrated his harrowing tryst with near death. He said one boulder fell just in front of his car, while another bounced a few inches over his vehicle.

Mission for Local president Rajan Korgaonkar, who rushed to the spot, questioned how such a low wall was built, when the mountain side was high and was badly cut posing a threat to motorists. The highway constructed by MVR Infra Projects Pvt Ltd had witnessed many fatal accidents and this dangerous landslide had put fear and trepidation into the minds of those travelling on this highway.

In the second incident, which also occurred on NH 66 at around 3.45 pm in a day, a boulder broke loose from the cut mountainside at Mahakhazan, Dhargalim, and landed precariously on the retaining wall.

On receiving the information, Pernem Deputy Collector Shivprasad Naik and PWD officials rushed to the spot. No one was injured in the second incident also.

Eyewitnesses feared that if the boulder is not removed, then it would roll on to the highway by night and could cause disaster.

An excavator which was brought to the site developed some problems and was being repaired.

Pernem MLA Pravin Arlekar and PWD engineers too rushed to the spot.

Later PWD engineers informed that the one lane of the highway would be closed and the traffic will be diverted via the old road till the retaining wall is reconstructed at Malpem.

The MLA instructed them to carry out the work of reconstructing the retaining wall on war footing and to take measures to prevent recurrence of landslides during monsoon.

Reacting to the issue, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Amit Patkar demanded immediate FIR against the contractor and to blacklist him and to recover all damages.

Patkar said that they had been raising this serious issue for the last two years and the insensitive BJP government was playing with the lives of Goans. The Chief Minister should book a criminal case against the so-called son-in-law contractor of the government.

Aldona MLA Adv Carlos Alvares Ferreira demanded that the government should take responsibility for the shoddy work as well and urged Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari to initiate an investigation and blacklist such contractors who deliver death traps instead of delivering solutions for traffic safety.

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Boulders crash at Malpem; four Maha tourists escape from the jaws of death - Herald Goa

Several residents of a neighborhood in the Skipcha subdivision went before the Harker Heights City Council on Tuesday to bring attention to a collapsing retaining wall that is threatening their property.

The wall, which is made of wooden crossties, has given way in several spots and shifted away from residents fences, causing significant damage.

One resident who spoke, Jean Flores, gave an impassioned presentation about the problems she and her husband had been dealing with especially with the recent heavy rains and implored the city to help.

Her husband, Dan Flores, presented a lengthy letter detailing the problems with the wall, complete with photos of the damaged yards and collapsing fences along the failing retaining wall.

He noted in the letter that his neighbors fence has fallen and his own fence is leaning. Other neighbors pools are at risk, he said.

I called our insurance company, USAA, and they said they wouldnt cover it, since it was erosion, Flores said.

But Flores also said the problem first started when Astound, a fiber optic company, blew a hole for its line near the Flores back fence in December 2022. By April of 2023, the Floreses noticed large holes in the yard and through the drainage ditch retaining wall where the Astound contractor blew the hole.

Flores called Public Works Director Mark Hyde, who came out to view the damage, along with the contractor contact from Astound. The Astound representative conceded that the fiber optic installation was the likely cause of the damage. But the next day, Flores said, the contractor tried to say it was a city problem, apparently after talking to his boss.

Astound send a landscaper out to make some temporary fixes the next month, but the damage has still been getting worse.

Last month, as heavy rains accelerated the erosion, the Floreses and neighbor Anthony Sniggs went to City Manager David Mitchell, who agreed to discuss the issue at a workshop, which the city held Tuesday.

During Tuesdays meeting, Mitchell clarified the issue of responsibility regarding the retaining wall.

He said the retaining wall was built on the homeowners property when the homes were built 15 to 20 years ago, and it remains the homeowners property.

The city owns the easement between the drainage ditch below the back of the properties and the retaining hall.

However, due to Texas law, all utilities including fiber optic companies have access to the easements to install or service their lines.

Because of this, neither the property owners nor the city had the authority to prevent Astound from installing cable near the fence. However, Mitchell noted that the city has issued a stop-work order in the area of the damaged retaining wall, which is allowable under the law.

In the meantime, residents want to know when the wall will be repaired and more importantly, who will pay for it.

Mitchell quoted cost estimates for replacing the 750-foot length of wall that has given way and it isnt cheap, as residents have found out.

A new wall with pavestone construction would cost about $668,500, and a concrete cast wall would cost $811,750, based on price per linear foot.

Mitchell expressed doubts about whether Harker Heights could legally use city money to pay for repairs to private property.

Well have to talk to our city attorney, Charlie Olson about that issue, he said.

He also noted that opening the door to paying to fix retaining walls on private property could have a domino effect.

Those walls with crossties are all around the city, Mitchell said. If we had to pay to repair a number of them, it would impact our budget and affect other road projects.

He displayed several slides showing walls made of crossties in the Country Trails subdivision, as well as in other areas.

Mitchell noted that the city no longer allows wooden crossties to be used to build retaining walls an ordinance that was changed in 2006.

Councilwoman Jennifer McCann called Dan Flores back up to the podium and asked him to clarify the timeline of the retaining wall problems.

Flores answered that he didnt have any problems with the wall for the first 15 years he lived in the house, but they started cropping up shortly after the fiber optic line drilling took place.

After Flores ran through the sequence of events, noting that Astound kept asserting that the retaining wall issue was a city problem, Mayor Michael Blomquist asked whether the fiber optic company might bear some responsibility in this issue.

Mitchell said this would be another question for the city attorney, and asked the city secretary to add the issue to the closed session the city already has scheduled at its June 4 meeting.

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Heights council hears concerns about collapsing retaining wall - The Killeen Daily Herald

Work orders worth Rs. 2.30 crore issued to ensure safety of motorists

Mysore/Mysuru: Even as the work to construct a retaining wall atop Chamundi Hill between View Point and Nandi Statue Road is yet to be completed, several more retaining walls on the main road of the Hill and the road leading to Uthanahalli have collapsed due to heavy rains, endangering the motorists.

The Public Works Department (PWD) has undertaken the restoration of these retaining walls to ensure motorists safety. The main road to the Hill runs from Thavarekatte at the foothill to the parking lot on top of the Hill. The retaining walls, built many years ago, have either been damaged or broken in many places.

Similarly, the retaining walls on the road from Chamundi Hill to the Uthanahalli Jwalamukhi Tripurasundari Devi Temple have also been damaged and broken in places. Some of the damage to the retaining wall has occurred at places with a steep gradient, making these stretches particularly risky for motorists. As such, the PWD has prioritised the restoration of these retaining walls.

The PWD prepared a Detailed Project Report (DPR) along with an estimate for constructing concrete retaining walls on these two roads. It sought approval from the Government and initiated the tender process even before the implementation of the Model Code of Conduct for the Lok Sabha Elections. Work orders have later been issued to contractors to commence the work.

Two contracts issued

PWD Executive Engineer Raju told Star of Mysore that a contract worth Rs. 1.8 crore has been awarded to one contractor for the restoration of retaining walls from Thavarekatte to the multi-level parking lot building atop the Hill while another contractor has been tasked with restoring the retaining wall along the road from Chamundi Hill to Uttanahalli for Rs. 50 lakh.

Both projects were initiated simultaneously before the start of the Lok Sabha election process, and already 50 percent of the work has been completed. The previously existing stone retaining wall has been removed at places and the available spaces have been expanded concrete walls with iron reinforcements are being constructed from the foundation level.

Instead of the earlier stone retaining wall, which was only 2 feet high, new 4 feet-high concrete retaining walls are being constructed at places where damages have occurred, providing increased safety for two-wheelers, cars, autos, tempos and buses travelling on this route.

Raju stated that the Government approved the construction of concrete retaining walls at the collapsed and weakened spots for the safety of motorists.

He mentioned that the construction of the retaining walls on the main road of Chamundi Hill and the road towards Uttanahalli is progressing rapidly. Additionally, on the other side of the road, areas eroded by rainwater are levelled with cement concrete.

He emphasised the responsibility of regularly maintaining all roads leading to the Hill, noting that the Department prioritises immediate repair as soon as any weakening is noticed.

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Construction of rain-damaged retaining walls underway atop Chamundi Hill - Star of Mysore

The robotics experts at ETH Zurich have developed an autonomous excavator that uses advanced AI to help it complete high-skill tasks without a human operator.

Dry stone wall construction typically involves huge amounts of operator labor. Doing it right requires not just hours of labor, but hours of skilled, experienced labor. At least, it used to. If the crew at ETH is successful, building stone retaining walls will soon become a set it and forget it task for robots to complete. Robots like their HEAP excavator.

HEAP (Hydraulic Excavator for an Autonomous Purpose) is a customized Menzi Muck M545 developed for autonomous operation that uses electrically-driven hydraulics to operate an advanced boom arm equipped with draw wire encoders, LiDAR, Leica iCON site-mapping, and a Rototilt wrist on the end that makes it look more like a high-precision robotic arm than a traditional heavy equipment asset.

Which makes sense. After all: the ETH guys are roboticists, not skilled heavy equipment operators. So, how does their robot do against skilled operators?

We are currently outperformed by human excavator operators in placement speed, ETH researchers wroteinScience Robotics. Such operators, however, typically require string and paint references with which to register their construction and often a second or third person outside the machine to provide guidance and to insert small supporting stones, gravel, and soil by hand and shovel. In contrast, our process can build complex nonplanar global surface geometries without physical reference markers, does not require a skilled driver or small supporting stones, and provides a full digital twin of the built structure for better accountability and future reuse.

Translation: the robot is slower, but it gets the job done.

You can watch the ETH HEAP put all its onboard tech to work building a 215 foot long, 20 foot high retaining wall all on its own in the video, below.

The completed project can be seen atCircularity Parkin Oberglatt, Switzerland, and illustrates the potential for autonomous equipment to build with irregularly-shaped materials. And with skilled operators in short supply everywhere, the potential to free up operators so they can go where theyre really needed.

ETH Zrichs robot excavator has been in development for years, with numerous white papers exploring its potential uses in construction and agriculture published on the companys site. Its quite a rabbit hole, as internet deep-dives go, and I highly recommend it.

That said, the electrically driven hydraulics and high-precision Rototilt wrist on the end of the boom arms claw alone make this futuristic excavator worth some attention. As more and more manufacturers switch to full electric or even just electric drive, research into better solutions for existing hydraulic equipment and expertise could lead to big market wins.

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Watch this autonomous excavator build a retaining wall - Electrek

Researchers at RTH Zurich have trained a modified excavator to build a 215-foot-long stone retaining wall in Switzerland.

The 12-ton Menzi Muck M545, known as HEAP, or "hydraulic excavator for an autonomous purpose," was equipped with satellite navigation, inertial measurement, joint angle sensors and multiple cabin- and arm-mounted LiDAR sensors and cameras to map the site and scan the building materials.

(To watch the M545 in action, check out the video at the end of this story.)

Each stone was individually picked up, laser-scanned by the excavators grapple, placed back on the ground for storage and saved in the excavators inventory to later match to a spot on the wall. As the stones were placed on the wall, the excavator rescanned them and updated its geometric planner.

Researchers say this process was repeated each time after all scanned stones were placed or after the planner was no longer able to find solutions with the available inventory. The final wall consisted of 938 unique elements, with a mixture of reclaimed concrete, mixed erratics and gneiss boulders.

Because the test took place on an active construction site, a human operator remained in the cab to provide oversight and avoid accidents. The scanning, picking and placing were performed autonomously while the operator assisted with driving between operations.

When combining the scanning and placing tasks, each stone placement took the excavator 21 minutes to complete. That time dropped to 12.2 minutes per stone when excluding the preparatory scanning time. Field observers noted that a skilled human excavator operator averaged 11 minutes per stone placement.

We are currently outperformed by human excavator operators in placement speed. Such operators, however, typically require string and paint references with which to register their construction and often a second or third person outside the machine to provide guidance and to insert small supporting stones, gravel, and soil by hand and shovel, researchers wrotein Science Robotics. In contrast, our process can build complex nonplanar global surface geometries without physical reference markers, does not require a skilled driver or small supporting stones, and provides a full digital twin of the built structure for better accountability and future reuse.

The completed project which can be seen atCircularity Park in Oberglatt, Switzerland illustrates the potential for autonomous equipment to build with irregularly-shaped materials.

Our use of local and reclaimed materials for the robotic assembly of dry-stacked structures has been applied toward the construction of freestanding and retaining walls, but the process could also be adapted to the development of coastal defenses, transportation, agricultural, or extraterrestrial infrastructure and as an alternative building method in sustainable disaster recovery, researchers said.

Check out a video about the project from ETH Zurich below:

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Autonomous excavator constructs stone retaining wall (Video) - Equipment World

Then authorities charged the mom with reckless endangerment and child abuse

January 19, 2024 at 17:02

In a rather unusual incident, two Boulder Police officers leaped into action to pull a mother and her child to safety while their vehicle was hanging precariously over a retaining wall. Thankfully, nobody was injured but the mother is now facing a number of charges including child endangerment.

Boulder Fire-Rescue and local police responded to the call for service at what appears to be around 5:18 p.m. according to body cam footage. When police arrived they found a Lexus RX with its front left wheel completely over a retaining wall and its rear passenger tire floating in the air. The driver appeared to be trying to reverse back onto solid ground.

Police instructed her to stop and they began the extraction process. First, they opened the rear drivers side door and pulled the toddler from the vehicle. Then, Fire-Rescue workers stabilized the front of the Lexus SUV so that police could safely extract the driver without fear of the car tumbling over the retaining wall.

More: Jeep Takes A Tumble And Traps Driver On Remote Off-Road Trail Sparking Rescue

Its unclear what caused the accident as it happened behind a business and off of a main road. Photos and video from the scene show that conditions were snowy. In addition, theres a large fence at the retaining wall so it doesnt appear that the driver wouldve accidentally driven over it. Whats clear is that police appear to think that the driver should be criminally liable for the accident.

Theyve charged her with careless driving, reckless endangerment, and child abuse. Those are stout charges and investigators are also considering the possibility that the driver had a medical event leading to the crash. The Boulder Police Department went as far as to remind everyone that the driver is innocent until proven guilty. Ultimately, what matters most is that everyone walked away unharmed.

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Cops Rescue Mon And Child From Lexus Hanging Over Retaining Wall - CarScoops

Photo: Arkengarthdale Parish Council.

A retaining wall has collapsed meaning a key road in the Dales may have to close for repair work.

The wall at Forgill Bridge, on the main road in Arkengarthdale near Arkle Town, fell down on New Years Eve.

Highways officials have inspected the site today and say the road can stay open for now.

However, they have told Arkengarthdale Parish Council they will keep monitoring it and if it becomes unsafe, the road will have to shut.

It is expected the road will have to close for several months anyway for repair work later this year.

The parish council said in a statement: In the summer, the road will then be fully closed for three to four months in order to rebuild the walls on both sides of the road.

The bridge itself is sound, but the walls retaining the road on the Reeth side need serious attention.

The side that hasnt collapsed (the west side) is bowing inwards and so it makes sense to do this whilst the road is closed.

It is expected traffic would be diverted along Bouldershaw Lane through the watersplash to Low Row when the road does have to close.

Click here for more information from the parish council.

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Retaining wall collapses in Yorkshire Dales prompting fears of road closure - Richmondshire Today

A section along Anderton Avenue could collapse as a result of flooding or an earthquake, the city says

Courtenay officials are monitoring a retaining wall on the Courtenay River, saying a section along Anderton Avenue is at risk of collapse in the event of flooding or an earthquake.

The area of greatest risk along the 260-metre wall on the west side of the river is a 50-metre section below an unoccupied hostel and the 10-unit Anderson Arms apartment building next to the 5th Street Bridge.

Building owners and residents have been notified and the city said it is installing warning signs, but there are no immediate evacuation orders, nor an immediate timeline for repairs or replacement.

Staff are working to determine best path forward for the impacted properties and expect to have more information for residents and property owners in the near future, the city said in a notice this week.

The city made repairs to the 50-metre section in 2016 and recently noticed more movement in the piles.

Failure may be a gradual slide toward the river, or a rapid collapse caused by a flood or seismic event, said the city.

The Anderton Avenue retaining wall protects the banks from river flows, but backfill behind the wall has been sinking toward the river. This is a concern because buildings can only withstand a certain amount of movement before they become unsafe to occupy, according to Courtenays engineering department.

The risk of failure is much lower behind the 210-metre concrete section of the Anderton Avenue wall and the sewage lift station and Riverside Park behind it, according to the city.

The foundation of the 5th Street Bridge is not at risk, but the city said debris could damage the bridge if a rapid collapse of the pile wall were to occur.

dkloster@timescolonist

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Courtenay concerned about retaining wall along river - Times Colonist

December 14, 2023

The City of Courtenay is notifying the public about the potential risk of failure to the Anderton Avenue Retaining Wall located along the west side of the Courtenay River, parallel to the 400-block of Anderton Avenue.

The City has been closely monitoring the Anderton Avenue Retaining Wall following a repair in 2016. The wall is made up of two sections a 50-metre sheet pile section and a 210-metre concrete section. Monitoring has detected movement of the sheet pile wall, which indicates a risk of partial or total failure.

Failure may be a gradual slide toward the river, or a rapid collapse caused by a flood or seismic event. The risk of failure is much lower behind the concrete section of the wall, along Riverside Park.

Private property owners and residents impacted by this risk have been notified directly, and the City will install warning signs in the affected area.

This notification is a proactive measure to make property owners and residents aware of the condition of the Anderton Avenue Retaining Wall. We recognize that this information may be concerning, especially among impacted residents. said Mayor Bob Wells The City is completing additional structural inspections, and is actively working to determine a path forward for the impacted properties. We are committed to ongoing communication about this sensitive matter.

The City of Courtenay will provide property owners and residents with further updates as additional information becomes available. To learn more about the risk to the Anderton Avenue Retaining Wall, visit http://www.courtenay.ca/andertonwall.

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Potential Risk of Failure of Anderton Avenue Retaining Wall - City of Courtenay

The Ottawa Rowing Club sits along the Ottawa River below Lady Grey Drive. The National Capital Commission is building a new retaining wall to replace the current one seen at right, which is more than 110 years old. (Kimberley Molina/CBC - image credit)

The National Capital Commission is in the early stages of completely replacing the retaining wall on Lady Grey Drive, which is parallel to Sussex Drive near the shore of the Ottawa River, to ensure its structural integrity.

The wall built between1911 and 1913 supports the roadway above, which the commission (NCC) wants to transform into a pedestrian-friendly, multi-use "promenade," according to a presentation at a meeting of the NCC's board Thursday.

The NCC said ageotechnical study found the best way forward was to completely replace the 600 metre-long wall part of the wall partially collapsed in 2020something described as a "formidable engineering challenge."

The Ottawa Rowing Club, which sits just below Lady Grey Drive along the river shoreline, said the work will affect their next two seasons, but they hope to ultimately benefit from the road's revitalization.

"We'll make it work," said club president Peter Thompson. "Themembers are used to facing challenges at the shoreline, whether it's wind or waves or traffic or congestion on the docks at five o'clock in the morning. They're apretty resilient group."

Kimberley Molina/CBC

On any given spring day, there could be 100 rowers pushing off from the docks at the club. That number can double in the fall, so there will still be traffic along the road.

Thompson said the NCC, along with the city and federal government, hasbeen working with the club on the project.

"We have a commitment on the part of all three parties to keep atraffic lane open," he said. "So far, it's been a workable arrangement."

Public consultations are underway and the NCC said it has been working with local stakeholders to ensure disruptions are kept to a minimum during the construction phase.

In 2010, the federal government gave the NCC $1.5 million for work on "rehabilitation of a highly deteriorated dry limestone retaining wall."

That project was one of eight that were mentioned at the board's meeting Thursday.

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110-year-old retaining wall near Ottawa Rowing Club to be demolished, replaced - Yahoo News Canada