Monitoring of Tensar MSE Walls – Route 22 Over Liberty Avenue and Conrail, Union County


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CAIT project no.: 260-RU3071

Fiscal Year: 2010/2011

Status: Final

Rutgers-CAIT Author(s): Ali Maher, Ph.D.

External Author(s): Andrew Foden, Ph.D. (Parsons Brinckerhoff), Priscilla Ukpah, NJDOT Project Manager

Sponsor(s): New Jersey Department of Transportation

Summary:

This report discusses the application of Tensar geogrids as the reinforcement elements in the construction of mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) walls on the Route 22 over Conrail and Liberty Avenue bridge replacement project in Hillside, NJ (Union County). As this is a relatively new product to the New Jersey Department of Transportation, the geogrids were instrumented with strain gages and tiltmeters to allow performance monitoring of the MSE walls during and after construction. This report documents the results and findings of the monitoring data at the end of construction and after six months, as well as an optical surveying of the MSE wall faces to determine post-construction wall movement. The monitoring effort is in collaboration with the Federal Highway Administration’s Long-Term Bridge Performance Program.