Manhan Rail Trail over Easthampton Road (Route 10)

More than 10 years in the making, the Manhan Rail Trail is now connected over Route 10 in Easthampton, Massachusetts.  This 5 mile section of recreational trail between the cities of Easthampton and Northampton are now connected by Reinforced EarthÒ approach ramps and a pedestrian bridge.  The project bid on August 25, 2009 and was awarded to the low bidder, ET&L Corp of Stow, MA.  ET&L began construction in October 2009 and completed the project in one year. 

The North approach is 400 ft long and the South approach is 360 ft long, as required for a smooth transition of the recreational trail, up and over the pedestrian bridge.  The pedestrian bridge spans 180 ft across Route 10, supported at both ends on spread footings resting directly on the reinforced soil of the MSE abutment walls.  This type of bridge support is referred to as True MSE Abutments, in that there are no piles within the structure to support the bridge. 

The walls were constructed with 1250 architectural precast concrete facing panels, providing a wall area of 30,000 SF.  The Reinforced Earth walls are constructed back to back with as little as 18 ft clear between the wall faces.  The maximum wall height is more than 31 ft, and therefore the structure width to wall height ratio is less than 0.6 at the maximum wall height location.  Use of Reinforced Earth for back to back walls is an ideal use of the technology as the reinforcing strips from each wall share the granular backfill in between the walls.  The strips are placed side by side in layers of compacted granular fill and are not tied across.  The reinforced soil mass becomes double reinforced, resulting in a structure that’s twice as strong as it needs to be, yet flexible as the soil embankment itself.  These inherent qualities allow the structure to perform safely even when subjected to significant total and differential settlement resulting from compression of the foundation soils. 

The MSE wall panels and precast coping were fabricated by Dailey Precast LLC of Shaftsbury, VT.  The architectural finish was selected by Mass DOT and the Rail Trail Committee from RECo’s portfolio of architectural finishes.  A Georgetown Ashlar Stone finish with a French Grey integral color was selected.  The top of wall is finished with 1550 lineal feet of precast coping having a smooth form finish and natural concrete grey color.