Victory Road – Civil Anchors & DuraMat Turf Reinforcement

Victory Road is one the main avenues to Laingholm, a small community situated in the Waitakere Ranges Regional Park, one of the most astonishing areas in West Auckland, a place of native bush, rough coastline and windswept, black-sand surf beaches.

The project started early during the year when a considerable slip adjacent to the road and very close to a house occurred at the property. In order to stabilise and strengthen the slope, a set of Platipus soil anchors along with a high-tensile turf reinforcement mat was required.

Design

As most projects, Victory Road had some initial challenges to overcome. First, the embankment was exceptionally steep and the space between the house and the slip very tight, requiring an alternative solution to traditional anchor trenches. Additionally, the local Council demanded a system with at least 50-year design life. To achieve the set goals, the project engineers, GHD, opted for the Platipus S6 ARGS system in conjunction with a high-tensile rock mesh, DuraMat RF. To meet the specified parameters, Cirtex supplied a specialised S6 Anchor head consisting of Hard Anodised Aluminium Alloy material specifically for this project. The DuraMat RF turf reinforcement matting was selected because of its capacity to provide high strength with low elongation, and the capacity of its synthetic UV stabilised infill in assisting and minimising erosion and scouring.

Installation

GeoStabilization International, with previous experience installing percussive driven earth anchors, found the Platipus S6 ARGS system very easy and fast to install. It only took them a couple of hours using abseiling to install the 10 ARGS anchors the project required, getting really high production rates (6 to 8 minutes per anchor) by using an electric hammer. A three-dimensional DuraMat RF turf reinforcement matting was also anchored to the bank, helping vegetation to grow. As part of our on-site support services, the Cirtex technical sales team provided installation and product training, and facilitated a range of fittings to suit the equipment and the application.

The Platipus Anchors & DuraMat Turf Reinforcement used provided the following benefits to the project:

• Site able to recover its natural vegetated state
• Scour protection, minimising future surface erosion
• Embankment stability protecting the property above and road below