City: Reno
State: Nevada
Owner: City of Reno
General Contractor: Granite Construction
Design/Build Specialty Contractor: Schnabel Geostructural Design & Construction

Project Description:
Traffic in downtown Reno had become increasingly congested due to numerous railroad crossings. To reduce this congestion, the City of Reno contracted with Granite Construction to put a portion of the railroad in a depressed trench, so rail traffic could pass through the city unimpeded. The depressed portion was around 2.2 miles long, 54 feet wide and up to 35 feet deep.

Granite selected Schnabel to design and build the complex system of excavation support and underpinning to complete this project. Schnabel selected soil nailing to provide excavation support where there were no structures and a combination of hand-dug piers and micropiles to support the adjacent structures.

In the spring of 2005, Schnabel completed a $15.2 million design/build subcontract to underpin 11 structures and provide 202,800 square feet of earth retention for the Reno Transportation Access Corridor (ReTRAC) project in Reno, Nevada. Schnabel’s work was part of a design-build contract to depress a railroad alignment through downtown Reno. The depressed section was 2.2 miles long, 54 feet wide, and up to 35 feet deep (3.5 km long, 16.5m wide, and up to 10.7m deep). The trench structure was required to be watertight.

This particular project was awarded the 2006 Outstanding Project Award by the Deep Foundations Institute (DFI), further enhancing Schnabel’s reputation for delivering innovative solutions for unique construction challenges.