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Because of the height of the wall a jersey barrier, which separates the opposing lanes of traffic, was included in the wall design adding some safety for traffic using the new roads. Once the upper road was under construction a concrete grade beam connected to the road was formed and poured and a safety barrier for the drive lane was constructed. This concrete barrier was enclosed with the Highland Stone???????(R)???? block back-to-back and then filled with gravel to surround the concrete barrier.

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First, SRWs were referred to as a hair-brained idea by some visionary, then as a possible but unproven method of solving a tough construction situation, and finally, through trial and error, an acceptable and reliable weapon in the construction tool bag used all over the country to solve earth retention issues. The wall products allow for managing tough elevation changes and soil retention issues while still providing a look that fits comfortably into the design.

The Reservoir Hill subdivision in north Tulsa, Oklahoma is a quaint little community only 15 minutes from downtown Tulsa with European design streets on two levels, which add to the character of the development and make it truly unique. The streets and stacked rock retaining wall were beginning to show their age, however, and the need to replace them was apparent to everyone.

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The wall was designed and constructed in two phases, the lower road was constructed then the main part of the wall went up. The wall had to be completed in phases as the roads and drainage were constructed.

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The City of Tulsa approached the homeowners and offered to rebuild the streets and the retaining wall as well as adding additional drainage in the form of gutters and storm drains. While getting new streets and improved drainage was enticing to the owners, they were fearful the new design would negatively impact the look and feel of their homes. The homeowners were concerned about the look a large poured-in-place concrete retaining wall would introduce into their community and they had another much larger issue, graffiti. Additionally, adding the gutters and storm system would require the homeowners to grant an easement to the city for construction. This would effectively cut down the amount of property each homeowner had and encroach on the front of the house, an idea that was tough to swallow.

As an olive branch to the community, the city offered segmental retaining walls as an alternate to the concrete wall; the homeowners would be given some input on the color and design of the wall in return for their cooperation with the necessary land easement. Stephan Earnst, a principal at Sparks Architecture and a resident in Reservoir Hill, was excited about the possibilities of using a segmental wall system as a solution to many of the issues standing in the way of a new road system.

Crafton, Tull and Associates were the engineer of record and Shoemaker met with Bruce Rothell, the project engineer, to see if a segmental retaining wall was a good fit.

Rothell immediately saw the potential for the SRW?EUR??,,????'?????<

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The Reservoir Hill subdivision in north Tulsa, Oklahoma is a quaint little community only 15 minutes from downtown Tulsa; the homes are beautifully located in a wooded, hilly setting that has been around for years. The streets that run through the area use a European design that places the lanes of a single road at two different elevations and separates them using a hand stacked rock retaining wall.

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Shoemaker enlisted the help of John Van Deurzen, principal in the engineering firm of John Van Deurzen and Associates. Van Deurzen specializes in wall design and is very adept at handling situations others avoid. He and his team came up with the design to fit the city?EUR??,,????'?????<

The residents of Reservoir Hill did not initially see a color that appealed to them; the stock colors had too many browns and grays and not enough red, a color that was prevalent in the community. While the men struggled with what to do, the women came to the rescue. While standing on a paver display one of the ladies asked about the color they were looking at and questioned if that color could be made into a wall color . . . Reservoir Hill Blend was born.

Now that the color selection had been made and the homeowners had agreed to the easement concessions, it was time for the final design. John and his team finalized the wall design using the flexibility and ease of construction to put the final touches to his ideas. The wall was capped with a combination of wall cap and poured-in-place concrete stained to match the wall color.

With all of the design and color issues out of the way, the construction started and another benefit of the segmental retaining wall product became obvious: the ease of installation. The walls are very easy to install and the process is fairly simple; it does not require a large amount of big, cumbersome equipment to erect. The lack of equipment makes the logistics of building the wall easy to incorporate with the rest of the construction process. This was particularly important because the wall had to be installed in phases as the drainage and roads were constructed. It was imperative that the wall contractor could complete each part of the wall on time to allow the other trades to do their part on schedule and to be able to maintain the overall construction schedule. The total construction project lasted roughly nine months and when it was complete, the residents of Reservoir Hill had exactly what they had wanted: brand new streets, improved drainage and a retaining wall that added to the charm of their community.

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While the original wall design would have saved over $300,000 versus poured-in-place concrete, the final design including the added jersey barrier still came in as a savings to the City of Tulsa.

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If you are ever in Tulsa, head north of town and find the Reservoir Hill subdivision and you will see a great example of how a municipality, an architect and engineer could come together to solve an issue using creative ideas and a flexible product to better the entire community. The residents will tell you they are happy with the new addition to their neighborhood.