[1] MSE wall – Project background

The project presented is a mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) wall, with reinforcement of the retained soil material and facing made of gabions (for a detailed, textbook-type description of gabions, see McCarthy, 1998). The wall keeps in place an embankment of the rural road connecting the town of Metsovo and the village of Anthochori, in Northwestern Greece. The construction of the retaining structure was part of the restoration of the rural road system, which was affected during construction of the nearby Egnatia Highway (Wikipedia, 2009a). Egnatia follows an east-west route in Northern Greece. It is named after the Ancient Roman “Via Egnatia” (Wikipedia, 2009b), as the two roughly coincide over a significant portion. The location of the project is close to Metsovo, a popular winter resort in the Pindos Mountains of northwest Greece, also distinguished for its traditional architecture.

McCarthy, D.F. 1998. Essentials of Soil Mechanics and Foundations, 5^th Edition, Prentice Hall.

Wikipedia 2009a. Egnatia Odos (modern road) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egnatia_Odos_%28modern_road%29 (accessed 27-5-2009)

Wikipedia 2009b. Via Egnatia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Via_Egnatia (accessed 27-5-2009)