MARIETTA, Ga. -- A design flaw caused a retaining wall along I-75 to collapse in a toll lane construction zone in Cobb County. Now, other walls will have to be checked.
In June, a portions of the wall alongside the reversible Express Lanes near Windy Hill Road collapsed onto the roadway. The unfinished roadway is still under construction and is not being used by the public, so no vehicles were on the highway and no delays were expected.
The Department of Transportation released the report on the investigation of the Northwest Corridor Express Lanes project in Marietta. It revealed that a similar issue happened In July 2017. The report said "fascia panels" reportedly collapsed about three weeks after placement of the stone fill, However, no formal forensic investigation was preformed.
Once the June collapse happened, an independent firm was hired. At the request of Northwest Express Roadbuilders (NWER), Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc. (WJE) performed an investigation to determine the cause of the collapse and make recommendations for repairs. The report said a section of "architectural precast concrete fascia panel" is what partially collapsed.
GDOT said under this Design-Build-Finance contract, NWER is responsible for designing and constructing the project in accordance with contract requirements.
WJE did list recommendations for repairs in the report. However, a spokesperson for GDOT reserves the right to require remediation in addition to those recommended in the WJE report.
GDOT said it oversees NWER’s performance to assure contract compliance and has final acceptance authority. GDOT said it has not accepted this project yet. Following final project acceptance, GDOT will then maintain ongoing maintenance.
When 11Alive asked GDOT if other walls will have to be fixed, officials said only 14 of the 69 retaining walls along the entire corridor are of similar design.
Luckily, those expenses won't be passed along to taxpayers. NWER retains all liabilities associated with these walls. GDOT said under the contract, the costs for repairing wall failure will be NWER’s responsibility.
GDOT has not se a date yet for the ribbon cutting. The projected goal was to open by the end of summer.
