Slope Protection

Project Overview

NCDOT Bridge Maintenance Division 6 had a major erosion problem at the bridge piles underneath I-95 at Highway 87 in Cumberland County, NC. The bridge deck above was leaking water at the joint, cascading down and eroding the slope that protects the concrete bridge piles. They were constantly repairing this area so they decided to use Combat Concrete (CC) to prevent further erosion and limit maintenance.

Solution

Traditionally, a thin, poured concrete slab called slope paving, or rip-rap placed on top of a geotextile to protect the existing slope would have been installed. Vegetating the slope was not an option, because of the the low sunlight conditions vegetation wouldn’t get established.

Results

NCDOT chose to install Combat Concrete GCCM as an alternate to rip-rap. Using
CC materials allowed the NCDOT to utilize their own maintenance crew and avoided having to use any large equipment in order to protect the slope. The GCCM material was keyed into an anchor trench on the perimeter of the slope protection and staked down with 12” pins with washers around the circumference of the piers. GCCM was easy to cut with simple hand tools around the circular piles. This area was later grouted. The installation was completed in approximately two hours.