90 80 6
OHIO STATE EDITION
A Supplement to:
422
6 80 24
6
4
71
76
199 30 30 75
68
30 77
71 23 22 68
4
70 70
®
70
22 71
75
77
27
June 18 2016
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50
50 25
Vol. XVIII • No. 13
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“The Nation’s Best Read Construction Newspaper… Founded in 1957.” Your Ohio Connection: Ed Bryden, Strongsville, OH • 1-800-810-7640
Shelly & Sands Completes First Year of Four-Year Contract By Irwin Rapoport CEG CORRESPONDENT
Shelly & Sands Inc. has completed the first year of the four-year contract to rebuild and widen a 4mi. (6.4 km) stretch of Interstate 80 in Ohio’s Trumbull County, along with the widening and rehabilitation of seven bridges and replacement of six bridges. The Ohio Department of Transportation project ($91.2 million construction, $102.2 million in total) began in June 2015 and will be completed in July 2018. The work is taking place in Austintown, Weathersfield and Liberty Townships, and within the city of Girard. I-80 is being expanded from four lanes to six between State Route 46 and SR193/Belmont Avenue. “The need is two-fold,” said Mike Simpkins, ODOT’s planning and transportation engineer. “We have several bridges that are in need of rehabilitation and with increasing traffic volumes, there is a need for an additional lane. This is one of the top locations for truck traffic in the state — it’s a major connector between Chicago and New York City. A lot of the exits in the area accommodate semi-truck needs. “The pavement and bridges did meet their expected lifecycles,” he said. “They were built back in the 1950s and 1960s and it was time for a replacement. Because of the funding situation, we actually expedited the design much quicker than normally for a project of this size — from the beginning to the end, it took two years.” The design deals with areas that have poor sub-grades.
Shelly & Sands Inc. has completed the first year of the four-year contract to rebuild and widen a 4mi. (6.4 km) stretch of Interstate 80 in Ohio’s Trumbull County, along with the widening and rehabilitation of seven bridges and replacement of six bridges.
“We actually hit a patch of coal and we have areas that have mines — these are always a challenge to deal with,” said Simpkins. “We have to make sure that the road has the longevity needed to handle trucks, which means having a stabilized sub-grade that has a good foundation to place pavement on.” ODOT is using a traditional road base with an asphalt surface on this job. “We’ve had some success in using fabrics to bridge some of these soft areas,” said Simpkins, “and asphalt is something that is long-term. When you have to do repairs, it is much easier and costeffective than when you have to do it on concrete pavement.” ODOT has been pro-active in securing the work space and access
to replace an 800-ft. (243 m) long bridge that spans two railroad spurs and a junk yard prior to the start of the project. This was needed as space was required to place the bridge piers. “Historically railroads present unique challenges in regards to highway construction,” said Simpkins, “so there was a lot of coordination needed. During the initial reviews I saw that access was going to be very restricted without a plan in place, so we pushed for that to be all pre-bid and pre-designed so that it was simply a bid condition that they contractors had to work with. The access points were arranged. We did not have the time to let the contractor get all these agreements in place. As well, we had some very minor
utility re-locations for some of the noise wall placement.” The expected lifespan for the pavement is 12 to 15 years and 30 to 50 years for the bridge work. The new road infrastructure was designed via a partnership between MS Consultants and the GPD Group. Current access to the highway is being maintained, with no changes to the ramps and exits/entrances. “The only improvement that was made to the corridor was the addition of a through-lane throughout the corridor,” said Simpkins. “The addition of a new lane for traffic will make it safer. The existing shoulders were four-feet wide on the inside and eight-feet wide on the outside, and now we’re putting in 12-foot shoulders on the
inside and outside. People who need to stop will now have a full shoulder to pull off on.” The traffic plan is based on a minimum of one lane of traffic being maintained in each direction of I-80 during non-peak travel times, along with various ramp closures throughout construction. “Access to all residences and businesses will be maintained at all times throughout construction,” said Simpkins. “We’re actually maintaining two lanes in each direction. There are times when we take it down to a single lane for a day to do some work. The approach pavement on both sides of the 800-foot long bridge was realigned so that we could maintain two lanes throughout the construction.” The work completed in 2015 included the widening of the exterior lanes of I-80 eastbound between SR 46 and U.S. 422 and for the current construction season, S&S crews will be widening the interior lanes of I-80 eastbound between SR 46 and U.S. 422, with the Keffler Bridge Company replacing the large bridge over the scrapyard and railroad, just west of U.S. 422. Keffler is responsible for all bridge work. Mike Sdregas, ODOT’s construction project manager, is pleased with the ongoing progress. “The designs for the bridges vary — some are steel beams and some are girders,” he said. “The realignments are wider and we’re using some different materials and new beams. They may include sheer studs with high performance bridge decks. Everything is being brought up to current standards because the existing bridges are see ODOT page 2