Image courtesy of Bill Rucker
The project faced an odd problem that winter. “Pre-wetting operations, struck by falling night-time temperatures (as low as 12 degrees) froze over, clothing desert cactus and scrub brush in a paradoxical icy armor…becoming a fairyland of ice,” reported Arizona-New Mexico Contractor & Engineer in 1967. “Shutterbugs and the plain curious nearly caused a full-scale traffic jam as they flocked from Tucson and Nogales to see the spectacular sight. Daytime temperatures, however, which soared back up to the high 60’s soon melted the ice and restored order.” The publication noted that the cold
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Image courtesy of New Pueblo
Above: Paving I-19 at Green Valley, 1969. Top right: New Pueblo’s new CMI grading machine used on I-19 in Nogales and Green Valley. Below: New Pueblo crew paving on I-19 near Green Valley, mid 1970s.
weather had halted work. “All work has been completed there except a road mix surface, which requires 70-degree temperatures for the go-ahead.” Besides the low temperatures, Ronstadt said there were other challenges. “One bridge was slanted and curved with a skewed elevation, making the rebar skeleton a nightmare to install,” he says. Despite the difficulties, New Pueblo completed the project by its October 1967 deadline. This accomplishment was aided by New Pueblo’s second construction office and commercial ready-mix plant on the east side of I-19 at Ruby Road. “We started another phase of I-19 at Duval Mine Road, running about 5 miles to Canoa Ranch Road,” recalls Ronstadt. “At the Santa Cruz River at Florida
Canyon Wash, we operated the Green Valley gravel pit on the east side of the freeway supplying aggregate and asphaltic concrete.” Ronstadt says they called it the FICO plant because the land was owned by the Farmers Investment Co., headed by Keith Walden. “We paid FICO a royalty for every ton mined from the Green Valley gravel pit,” he says. “We provided concrete to the Duval and Anaconda mines and concrete read-mix to local contractors from Tucson to the Mexican border.” The project called for some untested equipment. “We initially rented a CMI Autograde machine, which we later purchased,” Ronstadt says. “This was the first time a CMI was used on highway work in Arizona. We had to prove to the state that it was the best method for grading the final pass of ABC.” Ronstadt specifies the advantages of using the CMI. “The scrapers would make all the rough cuts for subgrade, with blades finishing the subgrade,” he says. “The blades would then knock down the select material and two courses of ABC getting it close. The CMI would follow behind, making the perfect grade.” Ronstadt adds that New Pueblo used it on both I-19 projects at Green Valley and Ruby Road. “They were by far the smoothest stretches of I-19.” New Pueblo’s last work on I-19 was their most extensive, stretching 11 miles north of Rio Rico, from the Palo Parado to the Agua Linda interchanges. While the construction of I-19 is more than 40 years old, the project remains fresh in Ronstadt’s mind. “Even today, when I drive the interstate to Nogales, every few miles, I’m reminded the headaches given and major problems that needed solving along that road,” he says. Arizona Contractor & Community