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The Centennial
Project Type:
Residential Community in Rockdale County
Project Size: 48.30 acres
Georgia Civil’s Scope: Site development permitting – Rockdale County and Coordination between geotechnical consultants, utility contractor, and engineer to reduce site costs due to mass rock and topographic constraints.
Project Challenge
In 1996, when the Summer Olympic Games came to the Metro Atlanta area, Centennial Olympic Parkway and the Georgia International Horse Park, which housed Olympic Equestrian events, was constructed in Rockdale County. During the planning process, one tract, along Olympic Parkway, was set aside for a residential development.
The Centennial, a 76 lot gated community, sits on a rolling, wooded tract adjacent to Cherokee Run Golf Course. The location for such a project was ideal; however, the site provided significant design challenges due to topography and presence of mass rock.
Design Challenges:
- Steep topography – much of the site had slopes greater than 15%.
- Significant presence of mass rock.
- Stream crossing required.
- Project abuts Trans-Continental Gas Line
- Three phase project
Georgia Civil’s Solutions
At the outset of the project, Georgia Civil worked with the developer to design an efficient plan around the challenging topography and mass rock. Exploratory borings where completed in areas of intense cut (i.e. locations of storm and sanitary infrastructure, as well as road bed locations) and analyzed by Georgia Civil’s design professionals to minimize blasting. In the areas where rock could not be avoided, Georgia Civil coordinated the blasting efforts with the Owner of the Trans-Continental Gas Line, to comply with proximity rules and insure no damage was incurred on the line.
In addition, Georgia Civil worked with the Owner to separate the project into three phases of construction. The third phase of The Centennial required a perpendicular stream crossing to access the northeastern portion of the site. Georgia Civil designed the stream crossing, sized the culvert, and provided a cost analysis for this phase so that the Owner could analyze the economic feasibility of the final phase.