Hillsboro Canal Package, Florida

• Client: South Florida Water Management District
• Contractor: ALT (Prime)
• Gripple Terra-Lock™ System: TL-100 & TL-A2
• Application: Securing Western PP5-Xtreme HPTRM

In Southeastern Florida lies the Hillsboro Canal, which forms the border between Broward and Palm Beach County. The Hillsboro Canal runs through many communities such as Boca Raton and Deerfield Beach. In both communities, many members have homes which back up to the canal. Due to severe water erosion and unstable slopes, the property lines of the homeowners were falling into the canal. In turn the erosion caused the surrounding landscape and trees that ran along the canal were to end up in the water, which was preventing the water from flowing through the canal properly.

The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD), which is in charge of the Hillsboro Canal, had to step in and address the situation before matters got worse. In order to restore the canal back to its full capabilities and give the homeowners back their property lines, they decided on re-grading and permanently stabilizing the slopes with vegetation. To allow a vegetated slope, they installed High Performance Turf Reinforcement Mats (HPTRM) from Western Excelsior, The PP5-Xtreme in conjunction with Gripple Terra-lock anchor system to stabilize the slopes.

In order for the HPTRM to work properly, there needed to be intimate contact between the PP5-Xtreme and the slope. With intimate contact, vegetation would be allowed to grow, which in hand would stabilize the slope. To ensure this would happen, the SFWMD used the Gripple Terra-Lock™ System to secure the HPTRM to the slope. The Terra-Lock™ Ground Anchor (TL-A2) and TL-100 were chosen for the job. With proper installation of the Gripple Terra-lock™ System and the PP5-Xtreme, the homeowners were given back their property lines and the Hillsboro Canal was able to function as it was intended to do so.