The Norfolk Southern Railway is an important mode of transportation for many people and products throughout the eastern United States. The rail line going through Chocowinity, North Carolina is a vital connection between the piedmont region of North Carolina and the coast. A slope along the side of the railroad had failed due to heavy rainfall and poorly drained soils. NCDOT decided to regrade the slope and install a soldier pile retaining wall along the site.

Soldier Pile Walls are retaining walls built by installing steel H piles at regular intervals and placing lagging between the piles. In this case the contractor used pre-cast concrete panels between the H piles. SITEDRAIN Sheet 94, was placed on the backside of each panel to ensure that the soil backfilled against the wall would drain properly and no hydrostatic pressure would occur, which could lead to failure. By using geocomposite drains, as opposed to traditional pipe and stone methods, the contractor was able to save time and money from having to haul in and install costly stone. The chances of the system clogging greatly reduced, as geocomposites consist of a layer of non-woven filter fabric adhered to the core, to prevent soil build up in the drainage core of the system.

The SITEDRAIN Sheet 94 was specified by NC DOT and installed by Trader Construction, with an AWD representative on-site. The product was sold through Guaranteed Supply Company of Greensboro, NC.