Break it up
Roads & Bridges
May 2005
—Edited by Allen Zeyher and Stephanie Harris
Some individuals in Texas initially thought RCA would be a substandard material, but the Texas DOT learned that, with improved process control, RCA can be used in new concrete. The Texas DOT’s experience with production, construction and cost of RCA is related in the FHWA report.
What follows are brief descriptions of a few of the latest products for doing demolition work and recycling and reclaiming roads.
Diggin' It
Roads & Bridges
September 2004
Allen Zeyher, Associate Editor
What follows are brief descriptions of a few of the latest excavator products.
Nothing left standing
Roads & Bridges
June 2004
Rodney Garrett, Contributing Author
It is arguably “the single largest, most complex highway [tunnel] project on the planet”
Drilling inside a mouth
Roads & Bridges
November 2003
Larry Trojak, Contributing Author
The Golden Gate Bridge is undergoing a three-phase renovation to meet seismic requirements. That upgrade will allow it to retain its structural integrity through a quake measuring 8.3 on the Richter scale. For Drill Tech Drilling & Shoring Inc., Antioch, Calif., drilling subcontractor, that meant having to deal with low overhead clearances during its retrofit of the south approach--a challenge that was met through the use of a drilling unit made for just such situations.
King Kong finds work
Roads & Bridges
October 2003
Rodney Garrett
The engineering firm Hardesty & Hanover LLP, headquartered in New York City, is heading the design and details of the bridge rehabilitation project for the NYCDOT. For building the new poured-in-place concrete piers, it was decided by Hardesty & Hanover that the drilled shaft method be used. One of the pieces is the APE King Kong model 400 hydraulically operated vibratory hammer with a patented clamping system used for large-diameter caissons. It is o
Cramping is the style
Roads & Bridges
September 2003
Erik Wilde, Contributing Author
Since its creation in 1962, Patterson & Wilder, Wilmington, N.C., has kept its employees not only through incentives and goodwill, but by keeping them safe and ensuring that everyone gets to work the next day. That commitment to safety is as much of a driver to productivity as any excavator.
Key Lime
Roads & Bridges
September 2003
Larry Cole, Contributing Author
Defying common construction limitations, the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) started a large excavation and embankment project in the dead of winter. With 24-hour operations and by chemically treating the embankment soil, the construction team, led by Walsh Construction, Chicago, successfully placed over 1 million cu yd of fill, often in sub-freezing temperatures. This remarkable effort kept a key project on schedule, improving both the highway and air transportation system around the Indianapolis International Airport.
A strong trunk + branches
Roads & Bridges
September 2003
Allen Zeyher, Associate Editor
Granite Construction Inc. is one of the largest highway construction contractors in the country. The company got its start in California in 1922 and has expanded from there in two complementary divisions: the Heavy Construction Division and the Branch Division. The company is headquartered in Watsonville, Calif.
Rental and Costello
Roads & Bridges
September 2003
April Goodwin, Contributing Author
The award-winning APAC-Georgia Inc. Ballenger Paving Division and its subcontractor, Costello Industries, Newington, Conn., are working up to 14 hours a day, seven days a week, on two concrete rehabilitation and replacement projects that stretch across four counties. Costello Industries is renting the majority of their equipment--nearly 75%--from the Rental Service Corp. (RSC) store in Byron. Renting the equipment helps the crew eliminate down time.
Step away from the machine
Roads & Bridges
September 2003
Lars Lindgren
Removing the operator from the equation lowers the risk of injury from operating tools and equipment in dangerous construction zones.
Offering support
Roads & Bridges
May 2003
Carol Carder, Contributing Author
Earthwork contractor Tom Kueter Construction, Peosta, Iowa, saved the Iowa Department of Transportation (IDOT) $110,000 and a month on the construction schedule with value engineering.
A big player for L.A. water
Roads & Bridges
March 2003
The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) builds and maintains some of the world's busiest highways, including the extensive Southern California freeway system. I-210 is one of these roads. In L.A.'s arid climate, rainfall events are infrequent but often intense, and the runoff is usually packed with all kinds of pollutants and trash. Caltrans engineers began looking at flow-based treatment devices, which accept a flow of water, put it through a treatment process, then release the water to continue its journey downstream.
Untangling the Triangle
Roads & Bridges
February 2003
Bill Wilson, Editor
The Grandview Triangle Interchange, where I-435, I-470 and Highway 71 meet in a tangled mess, is perhaps the most outdated of its kind. Containing three merging freeways and as many as 64 movements, the thoroughfare is struggling to move its daily numbers, which could reach as high as a quarter of a million in 10 years. The Missouri Department of Transportation recently decided to give the Triangle a shapelier figure, but there was little room to expand the waistline.
Strongly recommended
Roads & Bridges
January 2003
Bill Wilson, Editor
When the Ohio Department of Transportation worked out designs for the expansion of a 2.3-mile stretch of I-77, it originally wanted a 131/4-in. asphalt pavement over an asphalt free-draining base and 6-in. aggregate base. Northstar Asphalt, however, believed more resilience was needed to cover a seven-year warranty, and convinced officials to go with the state's first section of perpetual pavement.
Fluid Movement
Roads & Bridges
November 2002
Carol Carder, Contributing Author
A construction team working for John Springer, Colorado Department of Transportation maintenance supervisor from Loveland, made construction history with a pilot project on State Highway 287 near Fort Collins with the world's first full-panel precast slab replacement. The key to leveling and anchoring the precast slabs was a liquid resin (Uretek 486) that has been used successfully for years to lift and stabilize sunken concrete slabs.
A Complete Turn
Roads & Bridges
September 2002
Rodney Garrett
Instead of continuing to overlay the original concrete pavement with asphalt, the roadway will be completely removed in favor of building a new one. Each contract let to a third party for rebuilding a section of the roadway will encompass about 10 miles of the 100-mile stretch to be reconstructed.
The home stretch at last!
Roads & Bridges
June 2002
Allen Zeyher
Bostonians celebrated Mother’s Day by taking a close look at the new Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge over the Charles River. At the other end of the $14.6 billion Central Artery/Tunnel Project (a.k.a. the “Big Dig”) that snakes under the heart of Boston, Slattery Skanska Inc. was putting the finishing touches on the tunnels at the interchange of I-93 and I-90.
An answer from the panel
Roads & Bridges
May 2002
Bill Wilson
MKK Constructors faced the usual pressures when entering a design-build project in Colorado—time and money. Frustration could have set in, but the prime contractor wasn’t banging his head against the walls. In fact, the retaining wall system used provided peace of mind. According to Joe Kerrigan, project manager for Tensar Earth Technologies Inc., Atlanta, Ga., full-height panel MSE walls offer significant advantages over the standard cantilever concrete retaining wall.
Just drive!
Roads & Bridges
April 2002
Allen Zeyher
Today, if you’re building a road, using 3-D machine guidance and machine control technology will take anywhere between 15 and 30% out of the cost of your earthmoving and preparation phases,” Mark Nichols told Roads & Bridges. “It eliminates the need to go out and put stakes in the ground, so you can significantly reduce your survey costs associated with the project.
Maturing industry
Roads & Bridges
February 2002
Allen Zeyher
The construction equipment rental industry seems to have set itself up for a fall—with the worst possible economic timing. The days of fast growth, skyrocketing hopes and big multiples are over, and the days of lean economic times are here, though the economy may be already on the road to recovery.
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Work on the new—and the old
Roads & Bridges
February 2002
Bill Wilson
The ROADS & BRIDGES 2001/2002 Truck and Highway-Heavy Equipment surveys show a business which enters the new year cautious but not panicked, attached but not possessive. In other words, users are still spending what it takes to update fleets despite hefty maintenance dollars.
Digging out
Roads & Bridges
September 2001
Allen Zeyher
Excavator makers may provide lift industry needs
I-15's Pioneering Spirit
Roads & Bridges
February 1998
Larry Flynn
Salt Lake City's massive $1.6 billion reconstruction of I-15 is calling for extreme measures on the part of the owner, contractor and suppliers to complete the design-build project in four-and-a-half years instead of eight.
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