The City of Round Rock was facing permitting delays on this project due to excessive wetlands impacts from earthen berm construction on its USACE permit application. The City was working to increase the capacity of an existing detention pond in the Kensington Place neighborhood.
Aguirre & Fields developed an alternative to reduce impacts to meet permitting requirements and allow the project to proceed as scheduled. Our design team worked closely with the City to develop an alternative concept to replace the proposed earthen berms with limestone block and concrete retaining and weir walls to reduce the construction footprint in the wetlands and get the permit approved. The final design included 2 cast-in-place (CIP) concrete walls and a concrete outlet structure. Although funding for the original project was originally approved without the wall structures, the increased use of CIP concrete compared to the original concept allowed for lower unit prices due to economy of scale. Because the cost of the walls was offset by reduced earthwork, contractor bids came in very close to the original construction estimate. Aguirre & Fields also provided construction phase services for the pond.
