Nicholson Construction Company was awarded the con- tract to build a reinforced shotcrete soil nail retaining wall along State Route 9900 in Blair County, Penn-sylvania (U.S.). The 330-ft-(100-m)-long, 35-foot-(10.7-m)-high permanent retaining wall was cut into the hillside to provide an access route to the new Blair County Convention Center (see Figure 1). The general contractor for this project was HRI, Inc. and the owner was PennDOT.