Seattle— DBM Contactors Inc. recently completed a sculpted retaining wall between the railroad tracks and the Tacoma waterfront on Ruston Way.

The 8,000-square-foot retaining wall required drilling 30-inch-diameter shafts and installing 139 steel soldier piles. The reinforced shotcrete wall was sculpted and stained to resemble natural rock formations.

The work, completed safely, was done in close proximity to two live railroad tracks with up to 40 freight and eight passenger trains daily, running at speeds of up to 64 mph. Staging was done in the parking lots of the nearby waterfront restaurants and needed to accommodate significant pedestrian traffic along the scenic waterfront.

DBM's subcontractors included Air Placed Concrete Specialists of Bothell, Wash., for the shotcrete facing and Turnstone of Seattle, for the architectural sculpting and painting.