West Hill Culvert, Gates Mills, Ohio

Severe settlement had occurred at the location of the culvert as evidenced by pavement settlement, guardrail deflection, slope erosion and the formation of a sink hole. The C. W. Courtney Company surveyed the existing culvert, which was approximately 55 feet below the road surface, and found it to be in dire need of repair. The culvert had deflected badly with sections of the culvert bottom corroded to the point that it was beyond repair. The C. W. Courtney Company quickly prepared plans and administered construction of the nearly $550,000 innovative resolution. The solution involved jacking a section of 108-inch diameter ¾” thick steel pipe inside the existing dilapidated corrugated metal structure and grouting the annular space between them in order to minimize disruption to the traffic above and, most importantly, to stop the settlement caused by the inferior structure. Other elements of the solution included open-cut construction outside the roadway limits to remove existing pipe and install 108-inch and 120-inch reinforced concrete replacement pipe, construction of headwalls, wing walls, concrete exit apron, re-grading of the hillside slopes and repair of existing concrete gutter channels.