Lake Anna

Geocell Stabilized Cart Path for Lake Home

Project Details

Sector:
Residential

Location:
Louisa, VA

Partners:
JR Monolo Trucking

Key Products: GEOWEB®

About the Project

Lake Anna is a freshwater reservoir that covers roughly 13,000 acres in Central Virginia. The lake community is a close drive from Northern Virginia and Washington DC as well as Richmond and Charlottesville.

This private residence includes a lakefront home at the top of a hill and a boat house at the bottom of the slope. The family had difficulty accessing the boat house because the slope was so steep and unstable. The homeowners wanted to improve their property so that multiple generations could safely and easily access the lake. It was important that the solution be both functional and naturally aesthetic.

Geocell Cart Path

The final design reduced the slope’s grade, added a block retaining wall and incorporated a stone-filled geocell cart path.

The first step was to scale back the slope’s steep 2:1 grade which covered about 85 feet from home to lake. The cut began 350 feet from the top driveway and extended down the hill to a flat landing. The excavated soil was moved to the landing which was graded to create a 15′ x 15′ flat permeable parking lot. After excavation, the slope’s grade was reduced to a 2.5:1 slope.

Next, the bottom of the slope was hard armored with large rip rap stone. On the backside of the cart path, Monolo built a seven-foot block retaining wall. The block retaining wall supports the upper yard and provides structure above the cart path.

We recommended Monolo install Presto Geosystem’s GEOWEB Geocell for the cart path. We recommended geocell because the cellular confinement system provides subgrade support and stormwater drainage. Rain percolates through the cell’s pores to naturally infiltrate into the soil and reduce runoff.

3,220 square feet of four-inch GW30V was installed and secured with 12-inch rebar stakes with ATRA^® Stake Clips. ATRA^® Keys connected the 14 GEOWEB^® panels. The GEOWEB^® geocell cellular confinement system was filled with decorative #87 stone that was compacted and leveled to create a permeable paving system.

The completed cart path starts at the top of the house, winds past the retaining wall and lookout landing and finally arrives at the boat house’s permeable parking lot. Now the family has a safe and stabilized pathway that allows them to fully utilize their entire lakefront property for years to come.