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John G. Walton Construction Leads Major SR-180 Work in Orange Beach Warrior Met Coal photo

Warrior Met Coal is building a new barge load-out facility in Alabama.

Coal Co. to Build New $50M Barge Load-Out Facility The Alabama Department of Commerce announced recently that Warrior Met Coal Inc. plans to invest $50 million to construct a barge load-out facility in Walker County to support its expanding metallurgical coal mining operation near Tuscaloosa.

Warrior Met Coal is the state’s largest producer of met coal, used as a key component of steel production. The barge load-out facility, located in the southern portion of the county, will become integral to transporting the company’s coal production, according to David Knight, executive director of the Walker County Development Authority. It also will create 12 new high-paying jobs at the facility.

The Brookwood-based coal company said in February it would construct and develop a new underground mining operation in northern Tuscaloosa County. Construction on that new project began in March, and operations are anticipated to begin during the last quarter of 2025. The new mining facility involves a total investment of $578 million and will create 371 jobs. see COAL page 6

(John G Walton Construction photo)

The project schedule is based on many benchmarks: The installation of the 24-in. temporary sewer line bypass valve installation (done by the city); 11 pipe crossing crossings that required daily lane closures; and paving of the new westbound lane, as well as the drainage, have been completed.

By Irwin Rapoport CEG CORRESPONDENT

John G Walton Construction Co. Inc. started major work on the Alabama Department of Transportation’s (ALDOT) $7.9-million SR-180/Canal Rd. widening in Orange Beach on Sept. 23, 2019, and the crews are very confident about meeting the December 2020 delivery date.

The project, financed by federal (80 percent) and state (20 percent), covers 2.3 mi. of SR-180 westbound between the Foley Beach Express and SR-161 in Orange Beach. Additional elements cover utility relocations, as well as clearing, placing drainage, paving and striping.

“When complete, this portion of roadway, which carried over

18,000 vehicles in 2018, will be a five-lane highway including a designated two-way turn lane,” said Katelyn Turner, ALDOT public information officer for the southwest region. “We look forward to bringing this project to fruition as it will better accommodate the volume of traffic this roadway carries especially during the summer tourism season. The project was authorized in December 1999, however sufficient funds did not become available until the 2010 BP Oil Spill settlement, which provided enough funds to be able to let the project for contract. This project will help alleviate the congestion this portion of SR-180 experiences year-round, but especially in the summer as it carries traffic to and from the Foley Beach Express, which is a popular route for Orange Beach visitors as it provides the quickest access to that vacation hot-spot.” see WIDENING page 6

Page 2 • July 15, 2020 • www.constructionequipmentguide.com • Alabama State Supplement • Construction Equipment Guide

Atlanta, GA 404.469.7210 Birmingham, AL 205.841.6666 Madison, AL 256.350.0006 Mobile, AL 251.633.4020 Montgomery, AL 334.262.6642 Oxford, AL 256.832.5053 Tuscaloosa, AL 205.848.4147 Pensacola, FL 850.479.3004

Construction Equipment Guide • Alabama State Supplement • www.constructionequipmentguide.com • July 15, 2020 • Page 3

Experience the Progress.

The Liebherr Generation 8 Excavators – A glimpse into the future Liebherr completely redesigned its basic concept to offer customers more comfortable and intuitive products with even higher performance. The new Generation 8 crawler excavators feature more powerful engines for shorter load cycles and higher productivity, heavier counterweight for higher digging power and bucket capacities, all this while maintaining reduced fuel consumption.

BIRMINGHAM, AL 825 31st Street N Birmingham, AL 35203 844-344-8658

MOBILE, AL 7651 Theodore Dawes Rd. Theodore, AL 36582 844-891-6480

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Construction Equipment Guide • Alabama State Supplement • www.constructionequipmentguide.com • July 15, 2020 • Page 5

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Widening Work Remains Ahead of Schedule, On-Budget WIDENING from page 1 store materials and equipment and set up a field office. The The widened highway, with 6-ft. wide shoulders on either state’s COVID-19 restrictions reduced the flow of traffic, side, is designed to handle a projected average of 36,200 which allowed crews to complete goals more rapidly.

Good relations with ALDOT have been essential. vehicles daily through 2039.

“We had design changes and hiccups that had to be The project is managed by ALDOT and designed by worked out with the designers and that went well,” said Burk-Kleinpeter Inc. Preliminary utility work started prior to the Sept. 23 start Gibson.

The roadway has been temporarily striped into a five-lane and covered cable, water and sewer, and gas is 90 percent highway with a designated center turn lane. Sodding was complete.

“We have weekly meetings with ALDOT, the city, and the done by T.E.C.S LLC and was placed on the westbound side utility companies,” said Michael Gibson, P.E., John G as the new lane and drainage ditches were built.

Excavation and road construction Walton Construction’s project mancrews work simultaneously, followager. “We had to do a lot of coordiing each other. nation with every utility company to “Orange Beach had a big sewer make sure they were ahead of the line running under the shoulder of road construction and if they the westbound road, which was fairweren’t, schedule accordingly. ly shallow, so we couldn’t do the Mayor Tony Kennon was very helpfull-depth excavation that was ful about getting them to cooperate planned and run our compactor to so they didn’t hold up the project.” get compaction,” said Gibson.

The project schedule is based on “ALDOT made a change. We shalmany benchmarks: The installation (John G Walton Construction photo) lowed up and didn’t have to do as of the 24-in. temporary sewer line bypass valve installation (done by The pipe crossing work was not easy, but much excavating and we were able the city); 11 pipe crossing crossings fortunately it did not require any night to build on top of the existing material as not to damage any of the that required daily lane closures; work. and paving of the new westbound lane, as well as the sewer lines. It was all sand down there, so excavation was easier. The sand could not be reused on site.” drainage, have been completed.

On a good day, between 800 and 1,000 ft. could be graded The pipe crossing work was not easy, but fortunately it did and have crushed aggregate bases placed on the widening, not require any night work.

“They had a timeline to complete the westbound lane and “We had to do half of each crossing at a time, so we could keep traffic moving while we installed drainage pipe, placed we finished it a month ahead of schedule,” said Walton. backfill and paved with asphalt,” said Johnny Walton, the “This has sped up the project. We had a GPS model built for general contractor’s owner and president. “We had to coor- the job that allowed us to save a little bit on the surveying and dinate the work of the pipe laying crews with asphalt crews. run our GPS equipment with GPS systems.”

Walton noted that the Komatsu PC210-LCi excavator and Everything went smoothly.”

Eastbound traffic was moved to the westbound side last D39i dozer have been the most integral pieces needed to March and the new eastbound lane should be completed in complete the job.

“The D51-i was too big to work on the widening of the October. The final wearing surface and permanent stripe and markings will be placed after the eastbound lane is ready and lanes, so we purchased the D39i” he said, “which is a smaller the installation of two mast-arm signals components at the dozer and much more suited to the widening work. They intersection of SR-180/Gulf Bay and SR-/William Silvers have GPS capabilities built-in to them and they really have it down pat — you don’t have to add antennas to them.”

Road has started and should be completed in the summer.

Topcon GPS systems are in use on the project.

“The biggest challenge is the traffic’ said Walton. “We The pipe and drainage infrastructure installation for the tried to get as much done in the fall and winter months to get ahead of the spring break season and we succeeded. This has eastbound lane construction is also ongoing.

Gibson and Walton are assisted by Scott Appleton, the allowed us to work more freely now that the traffic is more project superintendent. horrendous with the summer tourists and beach people.”

“Scott is our feet on the ground and runs the job — he The city is letting the general contractor use a vacant lot to

makes mine and Johnny’s life a lot easier and he is very knowledgeable about GPS systems,” said Gibson. ‘We’ve got a good crew. They take long hours on day and don’t complain. They’ll stay late and do whatever it takes to get the job done.”

Average days have around 15 John G. Walton Construction and subcontractor employees on site, with the major subcontractors being C&H Construction for traffic control and construction signs, Ingram Signalization for traffic signals, L&K Construction for concrete work, Ozark Striping for traffic striping, T.E.C.S. LLC for erosion control and W R Mitchell for utilities.

Materials removed should include 37 tons of asphalt and 28,000 cu. yds. of excavation. New materials to be brought in should tally 500 cu. yds. of concrete, 18,179 tons of asphalt and 30,150 cu. yds. of borrow material.

“The five inches of top soil was re-used on the project.” said Gibson.

The company is using: excavators — a Komatsu PC210LCi and a Case CX80C; dozers — a Komatsu D31PX-22 and a D39i and a John Deere 650-J; loaders — a Volvo L90H front-end loader and a Cat 416E; a Vogele 4203 paver; a Dynapac CC524 HF DBL drum roller; a Broce RJ 350 self-propelled sweeper; a Cat 299 skid steer; a Cat 416F-2 backhoe; a Komatsu GD655-7 motor grader; a Weiler 1250 material transfer vehicle; a Wirtgen W200i milling machine; a GMC water truck; a New Holland TN55 farm tractor; and a Ford F150 truck.

“The pieces of equipment that we’re using are relatively new and we’ve had very little repair work to do,” said Walton. “Most of the equipment we buy nowadays has extended four-to-five-year warranties because with all the computers on equipment today, it’s hard for us to work on them.”

The firm has in-house mechanics that service equipment at the shop and in the field.

John G. Walton Construction purchases and rents equipment from Tractor and Equipment Company (Komatsu), Thompson Tractor Co. Inc (Cat), Beard Equipment Co. (John Deere) and Cowin Equipment Co. (Volvo) “These are your four major dealerships down here,” said Gibson. “They’re all pretty good about having spare parts readily available or next day service.”

“They give us good service and we have good relations with them,” said Walton. “It’s all about good customer relations, having a relationship with them where they what you need and expect. If we need a part or piece of equipment, they’ll make it happen.”  CEG

Growth Spurs Warrior Met Coal’s Investment in Walker County COAL from page 1

“Warrior Met Coal’s growth plans will provide a significant injection of economic vitality into Alabama’s coal country, and the high-paying jobs being created by the company will benefit many families and communities in this region,” said Greg Canfield, secretary of the Alabama Department of Commerce. “Warrior Met is making bold strategic plans for the future, and we look forward to working with the company as it

launches this expansion.”

Knight said more than 200 current employees of Warrior Met Coal reside in Walker County, according to company representatives. Average starting salaries with the new mine jobs are anticipated to be around $85,000 per year.

“The combined impact of the new mining operation and loading facility will have a huge positive impact on the economy and

people of Walker County,” he added. “We are thrilled to have been able to work with Warrior Met Coal on this exciting project.”

Warrior Met Coal was founded in 2017 and currently operates two mine sites near Brookwood. The company’s production is exported through the Port of Mobile’s McDuffie Coal Terminal to steel manufacturers in Europe, South America and Asia.

“Coal production has always been vital to

our community. I am pleased that businesses continue to see the value of coal production in west Alabama by expanding the ability to produce coal at the Warrior Met facility,” said Alabama Senate Majority Leader Greg Reed of Jasper.

The company currently has the operational capacity to mine about eight million tons of coal per year from more than 300 million tons of recoverable reserves, according to its web site. 

Construction Equipment Guide • Alabama State Supplement • www.constructionequipmentguide.com • July 15, 2020 • Page 7

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