Quote:
T-WALL® supports relocated UP rail line for O’Hare Airport expansion
Friday, November 11, 2011
The Neel Company is advancing the O'Hare Modernization Program in Chicago with almost 90,000 sq. ft. of its T-WALL Retaining Wall System. T-WALL is being constructed to elevate Union Pacific along Irving Park Road.
The UP rail line, Irving Park Road and the Bensenville Ditch are all being moved several thousand feet south of the current alignment to make way for a new runway. The contract is part of the $6.6-billion expansion at O'Hare Airport, one of the largest construction projects in the nation. Union Pacific predecessor Chicago and North Western Railway built the line through what would become O'Hare International Airport in 1910. This line had to be moved when the original O'Hare airport was built in the 1950s. To accommodate new runways, the railroad is being moved once again.
The Neel Company will provide three large T-WALL retaining walls totaling over 5,250 linear feet. The structures are designed for railroad freight loads and wall heights of up to 30 feet high. A heavy cut stone architectural finish is incorporated into the precast T-WALL units. The precast units are produced for The Neel Company by Dukane Precast in Aurora, Ill.
The realignment of the railroad is on an accelerated construction schedule. Dukane Precast committed to full production six days a week until completion to help meet the aggressive schedule.
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Interesting article. This company has vastly streamlined the construction of retaining walls - they completely grade-separated the freight line through downtown Wichita in under 2 years for less than $100 million. That's about 2 miles of work with 5 streets passing beneath. It's like Legos.
It's a really cool system, and they design whatever finish you want. Usually this means fake stone, but I guess you could do whatever you want.
The O'Hare project will look similar to this Tollway wall in Elgin:
