FOUNDATION SQUARE
Columbia, South Carolina
FME provided geotechnical services for Foundation Square, a public urban park located at the intersection of Greene and Lincoln Streets in the Innovista. The plaza features landscaping with more than 120 trees, a fountain, rain gardens, an elevated wood deck with a shade structure, prestressed concrete and brick pavers, and mast arm traffic signals. Funded through the Richland County Transportation Penny Tax Program and University of South Carolina, Foundation Square is part of ongoing improvements to Greene Street, which will ultimately result in a complete street (pedestrian, bicycle, and vehicle) thoroughfare of the campus.
FME performed a subsurface exploration, laboratory testing, and engineering analyses to develop design guidelines for the project. FME provided the client with recommendations for site preparation, foundation recommendations for the wooden deck and shade structure, lateral earth pressure coefficients for design of the rain gardens, brick paver design recommendations, pavement thickness recommendations for a paver and Portland cement concrete pavement section, and subsurface information for design of the mast arm foundations by the manufacturer. FME’s design involvement extended through construction with foundation detailing and pavement recommendations in response to challenges encountered during construction.
PROJECT OWNER
Richland County
PROJECT COST
$17.8 million
SERVICES PROVIDED
- Subsurface Exploration
- Materials Laboratory Testing
- Foundation Analysis and Design
- Pavement Analysis and Design
