Engineering News-Record (ENR) Southeast recently recognized GeoStabilization International® as their Specialty Construction “Best Project” award winner for the Tennessee DOT SR 70 @ LM 15.5 – Emergency Landslide Repair in Hawkins County, Tennessee.
In the early morning hours of February 21, 2019, a massive landslide occurred on Tennessee’s SR 70 in Hawkins County, sweeping away both travel lanes. Material from the landslide flowed downhill onto the lower portion of SR 70, making the route impassable.
GeoStabilization’s project scope was for the design and installation of soil nails faced with high-tension mesh facing to stabilize the remaining slope and allow for safe roadway reconstruction. Once the slope was secure, the general contractor Charles Blaylock & Sons installed a massive rock buttress to backfill up to SR 70 and rebuild the roadway and restore mobility for the traveling public. Collaborating with TDOT’s maintenance group, GeoStabilization’s engineering team worked to develop a constructable and safe stabilization solution. Without an extensive geotechnical investigation of the site, unknown subsurface conditions had to be anticipated. During construction, subsurface information from the soil nail drilling allowed GeoStabilization’s engineers to refine the design and ultimately arrest the landslide movement with fewer materials than the original plan required, reducing overall project costs to TDOT.