East State Street

The City of Ithaca chose Erdman Anthony to handle preliminary and final design services, right-of-way acquisition services, and construction support and inspection services for this Locally Administered Federal Aid (LAFA) project that involved the rehabilitation or the replacement of a large retaining wall on the 400 block of East State Street (also known as East Martin Luther King Jr. Street).

This block of East State Street is a portion of Route 79, a principal arterial on the National Highway System, and a key multimodal transportation corridor in the city and the region. The annual average daily traffic (AADT) is approximately 17,500 vehicles per day, with heavy vehicles making up about a quarter of the traffic. There is also a significant volume of pedestrian traffic along the street.

The new retaining wall has traditional cantilever walls founded on micropiles; soldier pile and lagging (with and without tiebacks); and mechanically stabilized wall systems.

Preliminary design included data collection, preparation of design approval documents, topographic and right-of-way, survey and mapping, property deed research, evaluation of cost and environmental factors, and public meetings. Final design included the retaining wall design.

Evaluation of the various wall types and coordination with project stakeholders yielded development of a wall system that maximized private development space by placing wall components as close to the existing wall as possible.