The retaining wall on High Street, near York County Community Action, shows its age.
Photo: Lee Burnett
By Angelina Keizer, UNE intern
For years, the crumbling retaining wall holding up a section of High Street near River Street has been a slow-motion problem for the city of Sanford. Recurring sinkholes served as a visible warning that the structure was failing. After a long and complex design process, the city is moving forward with a plan to fix it by choosing a natural slope over a new wall.
According to Public Works Director Matt Hill, the project’s journey began in 2022 as part of a city’s roadway improvement program. Engineers investigating the persistent sinkholes traced the issue back to the adjacent retaining wall, which was leaking material and losing stability.
The wall sits within Sanford’s former mill district, an area with a known history of soil contamination. The city and state regulators have historically preferred to contain such areas instead of excavating them.
Initial plans for a traditional repair hit major snags. One design for a large block wall required impractical deep anchors that would extend under the street. Another, for a concrete wall, came with a price exceeding $1 million. Both options would have created tall and inaccessible spaces that the city believed could worsen existing problems with unsafe homeless encampments in the area, Hill said.
Faced with these obstacles, city engineers went back to the drawing board. Through repeated consultations with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), a simpler alternative emerged. The current proposal is to remove the failing wall entirely and replace it with a gently graded, vegetated slope.
This 2:1 slope is now seen as the most responsible answer, according to Hill. It provides the necessary support for High Street while minimizing excavation in the sensitive shoreland and wetland area nearby. The gentle but steady incline is also intended to discourage camping. The slope will be planted with a mix of native grasses and shrubs developed to prevent erosion and require minimal long-term maintenance from city crews.
Reconstruction will start up this spring.
The post City Chooses Natural Replacement for High Street Wall appeared first on Sanford Springvale News.
