"When this comes in contact with water it will just try to expand," said Dr. Sazzad Binshafique. He visited the site in Hills of Rivermist on Monday out of curiosity. In his expert opinion, he believes the retaining wall could not withstand the pressure of the soil expanding on the other side. "Last week, we had extra rain," he said. "That could have caused extra pressure on the wall." He invited KENS 5 into his lab at UTSA where he researches San Antonio soil for TxDOT projects. He says the studies don't come cheap, but then again, neither do the consequences. "For one test the charge can be $1,200." Benshafique says that with a thicker retaining wall, he believes this can be fixed. "It's a common failure," he added.
Eyewitness News wanted to know how this could happen. We discovered the devil is in the details, or in this case, the dirt.
