Planters serve as attractive roadside retaining walls
In metro Atlanta, roads near Georgia 400 in north Fulton County and Interstate 75 in Cobb County feature planter walls, which provide a visually pleasant solution to noise, erosion and flooding. When the Cobb County Transportation Department built Kennedy Parkway, which connects northbound I-75 to Akers Mill Road adjacent to the Chattahoochee National Forest, compliance with National Environmental Policy Act regulations prompted the decision to use the planters.
“We tried to limit the visual intrusion for people down in the park,” says Denny Meier, the department’s engineering division manager. The department installed planters made by Retaining Walls Co., Alpharetta, Ga., atop concrete retaining walls separating the roadway from the forest below. The overhanging plants are visible to hikers on the trails below, as well as to drivers on the new roadway.
Made of interlocking precast concrete sections, the planter walls cover the top 10 to 12 feet of four retaining walls totalling 2,450 lineal feet. The planters cost $467,000; the fill material and plants, installed by Atlanta-based Arteka Landscape Development, cost $300,000.
A temporary irrigation system was set up to provide water to the plants from a fire hydrant, according to landscaper Randy Huffman. Eventually, a permanent system with a water meter will be installed.
Although they are new to Georgia, planter walls have been used in Australia for 50 years and have been used in the American West for nearly 20 years, often by commercial developers, but also by transportation authorities, water treatment plants and schools. In recent years, state highway departments increasingly have used them.