West Greene selects new retaining wall design

Published: February 20, 2015 - Updated: February 20, 2015 9:53 pm

ROGERSVILLE West Greene School Board, at a special meeting Thursday, reviewed the districts options to rebuilding the failed retaining wall at the new elementary center.

The board met with engineers for Michael Baker Jr. Inc. and agreed to move ahead with the construction of a reinforced concrete cantilever toe wall at the site, Superintendent Thelma Szarell said Friday.

Baker was authorized to prepare the engineering design and will complete the bidding process for the walls construction immediately, Szarell said.

The engineers presented several options to the board, all of which would satisfactorily result in construction of a safe, long-lasting retaining wall, she said.

At a building and sites committee meeting earlier this month, the board had reviewed a 700-page report prepared by Baker on the cause of retaining walls collapse. The findings of the report were not released at that time.

The retaining wall, which runs about 760 feet behind the new school and reaches 31 feet at its highest point, collapsed Nov. 6.

The general contractor on the school project, Liokareas Construction Co., filed a lawsuit last week against the district seeking damages for additional work it claims it was required to perform partly in response to issues involving the failed wall.

The company maintains in its suit the design of the wall was faulty. It also claims it had expressed concerns about the walls design on numerous occasions from the beginning of the project.

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West Greene selects new retaining wall design