Camden Crown Valley Slope Repair

The Problem

Site Conditions That Drove the Work

Roughly 900 linear feet of slope at the Camden Crown Valley apartments along La Alameda in Mission Viejo required permanent stabilization. The slope sits between the apartment buildings above and an active residential roadway below, and the repair had to be designed to preserve the existing utilities, fire hydrants, street lighting, and landscaping in place.

The Solution

The design called for approximately 90 cast-in-drilled-hole (CIDH) piles installed along the work corridor, with a reinforced grade beam tying the pile heads together. Each pile is 36 inches in diameter, 55 feet deep on average, and reinforced with fourteen #11 vertical bars confined by #4 spirals at six-inch spacing. The pile wall is anchored back into competent ground with 90 post-tensioned tiebacks up to 90 feet long, proof-tested to maximum loads of 284 kips. Existing wrought-iron fencing, landscaping, and irrigation in the work area are removed, the piles, tiebacks, and grade beam are constructed, and surface improvements are restored to match the pre-construction condition.

Outcome

The CIDH pile and grade beam system delivers a long-term solution for the slope while keeping the surrounding apartment community in operation. Construction is staged within a narrow corridor along the existing street, with strict haul routes, working hours, and protect-in-place requirements for utilities, hydrants, and landscaping throughout the work.