Retaining wall collapses at Texas State

Date of Release: 09/13/2006

SAN MARCOS —A portion of a retaining wall near JoeÕs Crab Shack restaurant on the campus of Texas State University-San Marcos has collapsed into the San Marcos River.

The wall collapsed either late Tuesday night, Sept. 12, or early Wednesday morning, Sept. 13. Approximately 40 feet of the concrete wall south of JoeÕs Crab Shack collapsed into the river.

There were no injuries in the incident and no damage to JoeÕs Crab Shack restaurant, which remained open for business.


Retaining wall collapses at Texas State University on the San Marcos River.
A retaining wall along the San Marcos River near Joe's Crab Shack collapsed this week at Texas State University.


Staff from the Texas State Facilities Department discovered the damage on Wednesday morning. Public access to the lawn area immediately adjacent to the damaged wall has been restricted, and facilities personnel were assessing the damage Wednesday.

ÒOur primary concern is for public safety,Ó said Pat Fogarty, associate vice president in charge of facilities at Texas State. ÒThat is why we have restricted access to the immediate area around the damaged wall. Our next step will be to make repairs as quickly as possible.Ó

In October 2005, Texas State Facilities Department staff noticed a crack in the retaining wall and subsequently observed that the crack was growing wider. Since that time, the university has been working with the appropriate federal agencies to secure the necessary permits to repair the wall. It was determined that federal permits would be required because the area is considered an environmentally sensitive ecosystem. At the time of the retaining wall collapse, the university was working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to provide all the information necessary to attain the permits.