Hairy extension

Paver overcomes difficult conditions to complete I-355

After several years of planning, several hurdles jumped and several miles of new concrete slipformed, Chicago’s south extension of I-355 is open. The new 12.5-mile-long I-355 corridor runs through 13 suburbs from the I-55 interchange in Bolingbrook/Woodridge to I-80 in New Lenox. The project is part of the south extension of the North/South Tollway by the Illinois Department of Transportation and Illinois State Highway Toll Authority.

Lorig Construction, based out of Des Plaines, Ill., had their full line of GOMACO equipment at work on the project, including a four-track Commander III. Lorig used their Commander III on the shoulder and ramp portion of the project.

“We did the initial pave with our GHP-2800 and PS-2600, and that was paving 24 ft wide,” Wally Simpson, senior project manager for Lorig Construction, said. “We’re following that up with the Commander III to add on the 12-ft shoulder lanes and the 16-ft ramp lanes.”

Working conditions on the project were less than ideal, especially for the ramp work. The paving lane was usually surrounded by steep banks that left very little room for the finishers to work and no room for a haul road for the concrete dump trucks.

Lorig Construction is an expert at dealing with Chicago’s tight jobsite conditions and knew how to work around them.

“The project determines our production rate,” Simpson explained. “It always varies, but in some of these tight corridors we’ve kicked out 240 sq yd per hour. The equipment can handle the high speeds and volume if we can get the area to work in.”

All of Lorig’s pavement on the project has to meet certain smoothness requirements to earn bonus. Smoothness is measured by using the zero-blanking band.

“It added another level of difficulty to this project,” Simpson said. “Anything under a 20 on the zero-blanking band qualified us for bonus, and we always seem to fall right in that range of quality pavement.”

Finishing work behind the paver was kept to a minimum. An Auto-Float mounted on the back of the Commander III finished and sealed the surface of the new ramp. The Auto-Float is a feature that, according to Simpson, was a must-have, especially when dealing with the zero-blanking band requirement.

With the pour complete, it was time to load up the Commander III and take it to the next project in the Chicagoland area. Lorig’s machines never stay in one place for very long, and their mobility and ease of transport is one of the features that drew them to GOMACO.

“For us, in this market, we have to be very flexible, and the Commander III gives us the option to pick up and go,” Simpson said. “We have jobs all over the city, so this equipment is always mobile. It doesn’t sit here and wait for the next pave. It moves. It’s one of the reasons the Commander III is so nice.

“We just pack it up and go. We’ll be pouring in one place today and we’ll pave again tomorrow somewhere else. The Commander III is just a workhorse for us.”