Better Roads Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/239057
HighwayContractor The added efficiency of using stringless paving technology enabled the team to complete the job ahead of schedule and under budget, he says. "Typically, it takes roughly two days to set up for one paving pass on a project," he explains. "We had more than 1,000 pave passes. When you do the math, you are automatically out of days to get the job completed in time. The dynamics of this job was pretty much 24/7 for two years." But the PRC team managed to complete it ahead of schedule and under budget. Provo River Constructors (PRC) reconstructed 24 miles of freeway with two lanes in each direction using stringless The $1.5 billion project had a paving in the Utah 1-15 Corridor Expansion Project. The project was completed two years ahead of schedule. $1.725 billion price tag (including ROW) in the original request for proposal. The project, which began Jan. 1, 2010, to make small adjustments during the paving process. was completed on Dec. 31, 2012. The original completion Use of stringless paving technology proved to be important with Utah's 1-15 Corridor Expansion Project, which re- date was slated for Dec. 31, 2014. The original length of constructed 24 miles of freeway from Lehi, Utah, to Spanish portland cement concrete pavement was 14 miles, but 22 miles were actually completed. Fork, Utah. The project widened the freeway by two lanes In 2010, 380,993 total square yards were completed. in each direction; replaced the original asphalt with new 40-year concrete pavement; extended the Express Lane from In 2011, 1,380,061 square yards were completed, and in 2012, 1,038,946 square yards were completed. The last Lehi Main Street to Spanish Fork and rebuilt or replaced 63 slipform paving day was Aug. 29, 2012. bridges and 10 freeway interchanges. The complex project The labor cost of placing and removing the stringlines and was completed nearly two years ahead of the Utah Departthe difficulty of working around the paving pins and string ment of Transportation's (UDOT) original schedule. It was lines throughout a project is eliminated with stringless pavfinished in 35 months, making it the fastest billion-dollar ing, which helped speed up the I-15 Corridor Expansion public highway project ever built in the United States. project. "Placing and removing the stringlines is a continuous job that occupies a small crew throughout the project," according to the Stringless Portland Cement Concrete Paving Final The upfront challenge was the "sheer magnitude" of the Report. The related costs include not only the labor cost, but project, says Kelly Steeves, concrete paving manager for also the cost of the equipment, such as tractors or trucks, Provo River Constructors (PRC), the joint-venture paving that is needed to haul and distribute the stringlines, as well contractor for the project comprised of Ames, Floure, Ralph L. Wadsworth and Wadsworth Brothers. "The typical concrete as the actual hardware that is needed for the stringlines. "The overall challenges of working around the stakes and paving job let is 150,000 to 200,000 square yards per constringlines can be eliminated leaving fewer obstructions struction season," says Steeves, who is now paving account when moving equipment around and preparing the submanager for Leica Geosystems North America, a manufacbase for paving," according to the report. "An increase in turer of total robotic stations used in stringless paving. "We efficiency and productivity is also possible with more direct completed 2.8 million square yards of concrete paving in routes delivering concrete and materials to the site. The need two years." Massive job, more efficiency 14 January 2014 Better Roads