Reinforced Earth Structure, Faridabad Skyway (Badarpur Flyover), Delhi, India

The traffic network between old Delhi and its satellite town Faridabad could not sustain the daily traffic of over 60,000. Therefore, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) planned to construct a 4.4 km six-lane elevated highway, Badarpur Flyover, to relieve the traffic congestion between these two cities.

The maximum height of the slope in the interchange is 10 m and the conventional highway junction was mostly built by natural slope, which is an unreinforced embankment that would require more available space for construction. However, the site had a limited proximity; therefore NHAI decided that all the service ramps for highway interchanges should be constructed with reinforced earth structure with vertical facing, to offer both safety and economy.

The reinforced structure of this project was built using ACEGrid® G Strip whose tensile strength varied between 20 kN and 50 kN, and the strips were connected to pre-cast concrete panels in order to form back–to–back MSE walls. The configuration of ACEGrid® G Strip was 75 cm vertical spacing and fixed on the connector at the inside of the concrete panel. The high tensile strength ACEGrid® G Strip had an interaction with the soil and improved the shear strength of the soil itself, leading to the high stability of the reinforced soil composite. Meanwhile, the ACEGrid® G Strip could take advantage of its tensile strength, increase the stability of the panel and reduce the chances of lateral deformation.

Because the service ramp was built differently from the traditional embankment, it greatly reduced the cost of land acquisition. It also saved on the cost of purchased materials and transportation charges of filling material. Most importantly, the reinforced material improved the structural strength and increased users’ safety. Since its opening date in 2010, the service ramp was struck by heavy rain, but it did not affect or damage the effectiveness of the reinforced structure. The MSE wall proved to be a durable, safe, and economical design.