Clarksburg, MD
Project: Dowden's Station
Location: Clarksburg, MD
Owner: Brookfield
General Contractor: Roche Bros., Inc.
Total Wall Area: 20,500 SF
Project Cost: $1.3 Million
Roche Bros., Inc. (RBI) was instrumental in value engineering cast-in-place retaining walls over a Contech multi-plate arch culvert to a Keystone Standard III segmental wall system for a significant cost savings.
The town of Clarksburg has been working hard to improve walkability for its residents and opted to provide a walking path connecting the new Dowden’s Station neighborhood with the existing Clarksburg Square subdivision. The pedestrian crossing also created a channel for the installation of critical sewer/water infrastructure to serve the new neighborhood and eliminate the installation of a pump station.
Originally the project was designed as CIP retaining walls with a multi-plate arch system to span the wetlands (50’ in total), with two additional “Critter Crossings” on either side of the stream. The project lingered due to the exorbitant cost tied to the CIP retaining walls until RBI—working with GTA out of Laurel, MD (retaining wall engineers) proposed the use of geogrid reinforced segmental block retaining walls with select fill to support the pedestrian crossing—saving several hundred thousand dollars in the process.
RBI was hired as the project’s General Contractor and was successful in delivering the project on time, and under budget. As a longtime player in the Mid-Atlantic construction market, Roche Bros. leveraged its experience and working relationships to subcontract installation of the concrete footings (WG Construction Co.) and the setting of the Contech multi-plate arch span system (Silverbridge).
Once the arch span and critter crossings were installed, RBI proceeded to concurrently build the segmental retaining walls on either side of the walkway. Coordination between RBI and the utility contractor was paramount to avoid delays while having the sewer/water casings set during construction at the proper elevations.
This project is another example of Roche Bros., Inc.’s ability to think outside the box in developing cost-effective, value engineered solutions to challenging retaining wall problems, helping to separate us as the leading retaining wall company in the Mid-Atlantic region.