Capitol Crossing

Location:

Washington, D.C.

Client:

Balfour Beatty Construction (BBC)

Background

The Capitol Crossing project consisted of a below-grade garage, a vehicular tunnel, and a modified street ramp spanning over I-395 in northwest Washington, D.C. The excavation was bounded by Massachusetts Avenue, I-395, E Street, and 3rd Street. Several nearby structures, including the Holy Rosary Church, Bell Tower, Casa Italiana, and a modern office building, required protection during the deep excavations.

Schnabel was tasked with providing support of excavation (SOE) for depths up to 72 feet, covering more than 130,000 square feet of shoring and installing over 1,300 tiebacks

Schnabel’s Solution

Schnabel designed and installed a combination of SOE systems: soldier piles, lagging, tiebacks, braces, underpinning, single auger soil-mixed (SASM) walls, micropiles, and a tiedback slurry wall. For the Holy Rosary Church (HRC), a stiff SASM wall combined with underpinning and multiple tiers of tiebacks minimized settlement risks. For the Bell Tower, hand-dug underpinning piers and tiebacks were originally planned, but uncontrollable groundwater required Schnabel to adapt by installing a SASM wall to reinforce the design. Tiebacks were locked at 100% of design load to further control deflections, and walls were stiffened in the upper 17 feet near sensitive structures. An extensive real-time monitoring system (prisms, inclinometers, tilt sensors) tracked building and wall movements in three dimensions.

Results

Movements of the Holy Rosary Church and Bell Tower were kept within acceptable limits. Actual settlements ranged from 0.12 to 0.50 inches, less than or close to predicted values. Stained-glass windows at the HRC remained intact, confirming negligible structural impact. Lateral wall displacements peaked at about 0.8–0.9 inches, slightly higher than estimates, but still prevented significant building damage. Overall, the SOE system met its design goal of limiting building damage to “very slight” or “negligible.” The project demonstrated Schnabel’s ability to deliver safe and effective SOE solutions in complex urban conditions

Quick Facts

Location

Washington, D.C.

Client

Balfour Beatty Construction

Market

Infrastructure / Transportation

Work Performed

SOE systems & tiebacks

Completion Date

--

Duration

--

Contract Value

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Quick Facts

Location

Client

Market

Work Performed

Completion Date

Duration

Contract Value

Washington, D.C.

Balfour Beatty Construction

Infrastructure / Transportation

SOE systems & tiebacks

--

--

--

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