The new bypass along the RN 38 at Saint Saturnin near Le Mans in France required a bridge structure in order to cross a small river. In order to keep construction costs down, the bridge was constructed using a geosynthetic reinforced abutment. A 31 ft (9.5 m) high geosynthetic reinforced segmental retaining wall (SRW) was constructed to service the bypass. The facing system of the abutment consisted of small dry-cast concrete blocks to provide an aesthetic bridge structure. Use of geosynthetic reinforced SRWs as a bridge abutment to support shallow bridge foundations was an emerging technology and had not been common in France. This solution was chosen and designated as a reference project by the owner, the local representative of the French Ministry of Transport, to evaluate more economical bridge solutions and more aesthetic bridge structures. Therefore, a monitoring system was required, allowing the measurement of the deformations of the wall both during construction and after completion, at reasonable cost. This allows the system to verify that the deformation of the soil remains below the design values. This paper will describe more precisely the structure and the fiber optic measurement device, and the results obtained, in relation to the durability and performance of the system.
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