The Albania Motorway Project is the country’s largest ever infrastructure project which runs from Rreshen to Kalimash covering a distance of around 61 km across tricky mountainous terrain demanding utilization of the most innovative technologies available in construction industry. To traverse the length of 61 km, 29 bridges having total length of 4.4 km, dual tube tunnel having length of 5.5 km and retaining walls for length of 6.4 km were required to be constructed. Out of total 70 retaining walls, 30 walls having height of more than 15 m were constructed adopting the Composite Soil Reinforcement System technology by combining double twist hexagonal steel wire mesh gabion facia with its tail extended as secondary reinforcement and high strength geogrids as primary soil reinforcement. Gabion at front side acts as a facia, extended gabion mesh secondary reinforcement improves stability along facia preventing sloughing failure and the primary reinforcement ensures the other major stability aspects of the structure. The highlight of the project was the 40 m high reinforced soil structure – a design and construction marvel, which is believed to be the tallest structure of its type in Europe. The total surface area of reinforced soil walls is around 35000 m2. With more than 30 Mm3 of excavation required to be done during the construction, much of the excavated material was reused as fill for the reinforced soil structures. These types of structures also minimize the impact on the environment and gel with the surroundings creating minimal visual impact making them a perfect design solution. Maccaferri was assigned the responsibility of design assistance, structural calculations, construction drawings and project supervision for all the reinforced soil walls by the main contractor Bechtel-Enka. The design calculations were done using the usual limit equilibrium methods and the stability safety factors were analyzed by MacStARS software (developed by Maccaferri with years of research and experience). At many locations, rockfall protection and re-vegetation measures were incorporated on the slopes above walls to protect the motorway below.
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