The new Aztec Student Union was the largest and most notable project under the SDSU Capital Improvement Program at a construction cost of $77 million. The student-funded project provides office space for student groups and space for recreational activities and dining to serve the needs of an increasing student population.

During a critical stage of the project, the Contractor was ready to begin backfill operations against an existing retaining wall adjacent to an operational, below-ground MTS San Diego Trolley station. Given the sensitive nature and unknown capacity of this existing wall, the Geotechnical Engineer recommended the use of a time consuming and costly backfill system to avoid adding any load to the wall.

OCMI had prior experience with this condition and offered up a cost-efficient, quick and alternative solution that was ultimately adopted by the Geotechnical Engineer and the Contractor. This system not only ended up saving the University tens of thousands of dollars and weeks of potential delay, but the Contractor also adopted it for several other locations on the project.