Armstrong County is using Marcellus Shale Legacy funds to give Kittanning an early Christmas gift.

County officials are contributing $16,120 toward the Downtown Kittanning Revitalization Project to help the borough replace a retaining wall along South Grant Avenue, Planning Director Rich Palilla said.

The state allows us to use this fund to help with community beautification efforts, which is what the Downtown Kittanning Revitalization Project is all about, Palilla said.

Dave Battaglia, chairman of the Armstrong County commissioners, said work is expected to begin immediately to rebuild the wall, which sits alongside the Planning & Development Department on Market Street.

The project is expected to cost $28,000. The wall will be rebuilt with a brick faade, similar to the brick on the Kittanning Citizens Bridge, he said.

Kittanning is our county seat and Market Street is the main throughway, Battaglia said. I'm a firm believer that the county's main throughway needs to make a strong statement. Contributing to its beautification is a good way to make that statement.

Brad Pedersen is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 724-543-1303, ext. 1337, or bpedersen@tribweb.com.

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Armstrong contributes to project to replace Kittanning retaining wall

Updated at 8 a.m. Sunday

The Oregon Department of Transportation said a section of U.S. 101 remains closed about 12 miles north of Florence after heavy rains caused a retaining wall to collapse, damaging the highway.

Officials said they have no projected time to reopen the Lane County stretch, which continues to have water traveling through it.

High water has also closed U.S. 20 about 7 miles east of Corvallis, ODOT reported Sunday morning.

Engineers will figure out how to deal with the wall in the short term and repair it when the weather allows.

Anyone traveling to the central Oregon coast should plan to avoid that stretch of U.S. 101 because there will be no detour.

Earlier Saturday, rain compromised the retaining walljust north of Heceta Head. It is the site of an active landslide. Northbound traffic is beingturned around at Sea Lion Caves, and southbound traffic turned around near Heceta Head.

-- Molly Harbarger

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U.S. 101 closed in Lane County after retaining wall collapses, no detour planned (update)

COEUR d'ALENE - Three retaining walls were installed in east Tubbs Hill Park this week by a Sandpoint-based contractor during the initial stages of making the hill accessible to residents and visitors using wheelchairs.

Coeur d'Alene Trails Coordinator Monte McCully told The Press that when the trail work is completed, most wheelchairs will be able to get 1,500 feet up the trail to a viewpoint of Lake Coeur d'Alene.

He added that the new and improved trail will make seeing Tubbs Hill easier for others in the community as well.

"It's one of these things that we want to benefit the entire community - because a portion of us can use it, but there are a lot that cannot," McCully said. "We're making it accessible to another percentage of our population that may not otherwise be able to see nature and see something beautiful."

Crews were primarily focused this week on installing the retaining walls, McCully said, because working on other portions of the project would disrupt the hill during the winter months when they can't work.

"So they are doing stuff they can finish up before the weather hits," McCully said. "Come spring, they will finish up the rest of the work."

In the spring, construction crews will install one more large retaining wall and work to give the trailhead a 5 percent slope, which McCully said is ideal for a person in a wheelchair.

"It's pretty steep as soon as you come out of east Tubbs Hill Park so they're going to be filling and extending the trail out to make it less steep," McCully said.

Additional work to level the slope on both sides of the trail will also be required, McCully added.

The work is the result of more than two years of planning, with meetings being held on the trail work for a year before it was given a green light by the city council.

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Tubbs Hill trail work begins

A driver-less flatbed truck shot out of control down East Market Street Friday morning, leaving onlookers aghast and narrowly avoiding a catastrophe.

This could have been much worse, said Brockville Fire Captain John Paul as he surveyed the scene moments after the accident.

Paul said the SMS Rents truck took off down the street after the driver unloaded a mobile lift for window-washers at City Hall shortly after 9 a.m. The truck narrowly missing parked vehicles before coming to a stop with the front end of the cab hanging over the retaining wall for the Brockville Railway Tunnel.

Paul said there was potential for disaster if people had been walking by the area when the truck came down the street.

Thank God it didn't hit anybody, said Paul. There were no injuries but there could have been somebody walking by with their dog when this came through.

He said damage was limited to the undercarriage of the cab, including a diesel fuel tank on the driver's side.

Firefighters stayed on the scene armed with absorbent material in case of a diesel spill until the vehicle was removed. Ultimately, that was not required, noted a thankful Captain Paul.

He said another concern is the amount of damage done to the historic retaining wall of the railway tunnel which underwent a comprehensive upgrade that included re-pointing in recent years.

The cab of the truck slammed down on the top of the wall as the wheels went over the edge, coming to a sudden stop atop the structure.

The impact caused some mortar to fall out between stones that were re-pointed two years ago and appeared to leave a crack on the flat surface at the top of the wall.

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Catastrophe narrowly averted

Excavation and grading for retaining wall (time lapse)
Need to clear some space to expand your back yard. Check out this time lapse video. We cave this customer over 800 Sq.ft... Check out the ongoing project her...

By: All Access Construction

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Excavation and grading for retaining wall (time lapse) - Video

Raising the Beam of Your Pool as a Retaining Wall Application
Utilizing the construction of your swimming pool to assist with dealing with elevation changes in your yard. This type of wall construction is called "Raised...

By: Browning Pools and Spas Maryland

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Raising the Beam of Your Pool as a Retaining Wall Application - Video

How To Back Fill A Retaining Wall San Francisco Bay Area (time lapse)
We added over 1600 tons of base rock and 800 tons of drain rock for this section of retaining wall located the east bay. The only way to do it ..is the right...

By: All Access Construction

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How To Back Fill A Retaining Wall San Francisco Bay Area (time lapse) - Video

The West Greene School District continues to pick up the pieces after a retaining wall, built adjacently behind the new elementary school along a large hillside, collapsed during a night in early November.

The partnership of the project architect, The Hayes Design Group, and the construction manager, URS Corp., started building the wall two springs ago as a part of the new elementary school project.

The retaining wall, which cost upwards of a million dollars, was built to hold the soil on the steep hillside and prevent consistent eroding. The only thing separating that and the new school was an area for faculty to park.

Its somewhat of an inconvenience because Im asking nobody to park behind their for safety issues, said Thelma Szarell, school district superintendent. We were expecting it to be paved by this time, but it would be terribly inconvenient if we had students and staff in the building.

However, many concerns dealing with the construction and design of the retaining wall were addressed in many school board meetings prior to the collapse occurring. Many cracks and separations were visibly noticeable in the wall for several weeks leading up to the incident, including at a meeting the night prior to the collapse.

The school board remained persistent on fixing issues brought up at previous meetings, some of which being the installation of drains beneath the wall and gray clay soil behind the wall.

However, despite the efforts made by the school district, the wall that stretches over 700 feet and over 30 feet high, crumbled in the center, ultimately sending several large blocks to the ground. Thankfully, some of the wall remained intact after the collapse.

The district hired independent engineers to assess the issue and what went wrong to cause the collapse. It has yet to be determined what resulted in the destruction; however, once that issue is resolved the district plans on developing a plan to correct the problem.

After finalizing a proposal to continue with the project on in August 2011, the new elementary school will combine both Graysville Elementary and Springhill-Freeport Elementary to a unified location, next to the senior high school and middle school.

It will benefit the school district tremendously, Szarell said. In the long run it will be more cost efficient. We will be able to have new programming done in the elementary and it keeps the kids from being isolated.

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West Greene School District continues assessments of collapsed retaining wall

rock retaining wall 4K
Description.

By: George Lee

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rock retaining wall 4K - Video

St. Louis, MO "Dry-Creek" Drainage System and Retaining Wall
Mizzou Crew Landscaping retaining wall and drainage system combo. Call 314-520-5222 for a free estimate for your project!

By: Mizzou Crew Landscaping

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St. Louis, MO "Dry-Creek" Drainage System and Retaining Wall - Video