A new construction method is described which aims at making reinforced soil structures, such as a geosynthetic-reinforced soil bridge abutment, very stiff and elastic. To make the deformation of a reinforced soil mass nearly elastic, a large preload is first applied by introducing tension into metallic tie rods which penetrate the reinforced soil and are connected to top and bottom reaction blocks. The tensile force in the tie rods functions as a prestress increasing the confining pressure and the stiffness of the soil is kept high. Compressive or tensile surcharge loads applied to the top block are supported by both the tie rods in tension and the soil mass in compression. Prestress is introduced in the reinforcement by preloading the tie rods, which contributes to maintaining the integrity of the soil mass. A working example and the result of a full-scale test are presented.