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Customer: Department of Public Works Contract: Construct only Location: American Samoa   |
Fast Facts
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When a magnitude 8.3 earthquake struck American Samoa it triggered multiple tsunami waves that hit the island of Tutuila, causing severe erosion of the shoreline area and tragically, a number of fatalities. To protect against damage from future storms, the Department of Public Works engaged McConnell Dowell to construct a new 390 feet (119m) sea wall at Taputimu, in the southwest of Tutuila Island.
To create the shoreline protection, our team first built 318 lineal feet of rock revetment, before constructing the crib wall on top. The rock revetment consists of 2-3 tonne armor stone units and 300 to 500 lbs underlayer stone on nonwoven geotextile placed on compacted backfill with cement rock masonry (CRM) transitions at each end of the crib wall back to the existing ground. 4-tonne concrete armor units form the toe of the revetment.
During construction we received a significant variation to extend the wall by a further 125 lineal feet to provide additional protection for the community.
