City: Santa Fe
State: New Mexico
Owner: New Mexico Department of Transportation
General Contractor: Twin Mountain/Herzog

Project Description:
When there is not a lot of room for equipment and steel fabrication, soil nailing is an ideal option for earth retention.  With the right kind of soil, soil nailing can be done quickly and economically.

On the Rail Runner Project in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Schnabel was brought in to install soil nail walls for the new light rail train running between Santa Fe and Albuquerque.  The train runs between the north and southbound lanes of Interstate 25 and in some places, where the lanes are close to each other, permanent soil nail walls were used.

The soil nail walls were installed from the top down.  Four inches of temporary shotcrete was installed as the site was excavated down to subgrade.  Eight inches of permanent reinforced shotcrete was then installed over the temporary shotcrete from subgrade.  The shotcrete had a rough screed finish that was stained to blend in with the surrounding environment.