StrataGrid and StrataBlock set new high in earth walling

Advanced products used to create country's biggest reinforced soil wall on the Ahmedabad-Vadodara stretch of National Highway 8/ the new NH48

The National Highway NH-8 (The new NH-48)extends from Mumbai to Delhi.  Along the route it also connects two major cities of Gujarat, Vadodara and Ahmedabad.  The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) required that the 102.30km stretch between Vadodara and Ahmedabad be converted from four lanes to six lanes as part of its expansion programme for NH-48.  The expansion project was awarded to IRB Infrastructure Ltd., one of the largest highway developers in India in line with the BOT (Build-operate-transfer) model.

The Project included 46 crossovers where the highway traverses over internal roads of towns and villages as well as three railway crossings.

Conventional method for crossovers

The conventional solution to support approach ramps for the crossovers would have been reinforced concrete retaining walls designed as cantilever walls or walls with counterforts.  Costs of such walls for each structure would have been colossal and with 46 such structures, the project costs would
have shot up with a strong impact on project economics.

Strata's innovative solution

In contrast, Strata advocated reinforced soil structures since they are faster to construct and cost-effective. The basic principle is to construct two parallel reinforced soil structures retaining earth backfill in between.  The reinforced soil walls were constructed with locally available non-plastic soils and StrataGrid™ polyester knitted geogrids as soil reinforcement.  The fascia comprised of StrataBlock™ precast segmental concrete blocks.The StrataBlock™ with StrataGrid™ system is extremely cost-effective.

Strata's value addition

• Scale - Strata is the only company that could provide the turn-key solution required to construct 46 structures for a project.
• Cost-effectiveness - Saved up to 40% of the cost compared to conventional RCC walls.
• Turn-key - Strata was present throughout the project life-cycle: Manufacturing StrataGrid™ at its state-of the art plant, providing detailed designs by its highly qualified geotechnical engineers, and finally constructing the walls using on-site casting machines.

•             Logistics - Built an innovative software
to optimize the transportation from casting yards.

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