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ALTON - Alton officials are excited about the progress that is underway on the Riverview Soil Stabilization Project in the winter months.
Other than the brisk zero-degree temps for a week near Christmas, Alton's winter weather has been mild for continuous Riverview work, Public Works Director Mike Parsons said.
“The work continues on the Riverview Soil Stabilization Project,” he said. “GSI, a company out of Denver, Colorado, has the contract for the work from FEMA. Considerable progress is being made overall to date.”
Sheppard Morgan & Schwaab, Inc., is the civil engineer for the project. Justin Kleinschmidt is the lead for SMS in the engineering part of the work.
“During the winter of 2019 and 2020, emergency steps were taken to make the Riverview Drive site safe, with emergency repairs performed in collaboration with FEMA,” Kleinschmidt said previously. “At that time, it was decided that a slope stabilization contractor should prepare the design solution/repair to the wall and subsequently submit it to FEMA for approval.
"The thought was that the repairs could be designed and completed under the emergency procedures which allowed for the contractor to be selected based on qualifications and thus bypassing the federal procurement process, a decision the FEMA Project Coordinator also agreed with.”
Parsons explained there are two phases in the project, phase one is to stabilize the slope of the bluffs in the Riverview area.
Once the slope is stabilized, in phase two of the FEMA project, the road in that area will be redone for permanent solutions with irrigation concerns also addressed.
“They are rolling really well overall,” Parsons said. “They are carving out areas with shotcrete. Shotcrete makes the area more stable.”
Shotcrete is used to reinforce both temporary and permanent excavations. Shotcrete was first developed in Norway. It is often used to stabilize situations like the Riverview bluffs.
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