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June 21 2020
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Vol. V • No. 13
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Massana Construction Makes Headway in Amarillo By Irwin Rapoport CEG CORRESPONDENT
Massana Construction Inc. will be finishing a $4.9 million safety upgrade project for the Texas Department of Transportation in the city of Amarillo on August 5. The initiative is installing four miles of cable barrier on I-40, an east-west interstate on the south side of the city; five miles of cable barrier, four miles of new guardrail and 220 ft. of concrete barrier on U.S. 87 — a highway on the north side of the city; and 1.4 miles of cable barrier. Additional guardrails and concrete barriers will be placed on I-27, an interstate south of the city. Installation Process Massana has multiple crews working simultaneously on U.S. 87 (north-south) and I-40 (east-west). The final tensioning of the cable barrier on I-40 began in late April, while cable barrier installation on U.S. 87 continues. “We started on U.S. 87 first, went to I-40 2nd, and will do I-27 last.” said Starr. “Every time we work, we have to shut down a lane. The lane closures are managed by Massana and we follow TXMUTCD standards and the engineered drawings. TxDOT gave us a window of time we can place the closures. For the most part they are allowing daylight closures from dawn to dusk, but for I-27 it’s going to be a different deal. There are hourly rental fees for lane closures.” Crews can install roughly 1,000 ft. of cable barrier a day. “We can trim up to 3,500 feet per-day, drill up to 175 posts a day, and pave up to
Massana Construction photo
For the safety upgrade project in Amarillo, crews from Massana Construction use a Gomaco Commander III paver to perform highway work in Amarillo.
3,500 feet a day,” said Starr. “That's about 1,000 feet a day.” The installation process starts with a surveyed layout, which translates the plan to horizontal (stationing) and vertical (elevation). The layout is then used to set a string line for the paver. “A paver with a trimmer head uses the string line to cut the grade to elevation,” said Starr. “We follow behind the trimmer and drill the post holes and behind that a paver, using the string line, pours the concrete. After the concrete cures, we install posts, string the cable, and then tension it to the manufacturer’s tension requirements. “It’s definitely a step-by-step process,” he added, “but once you’ve done it a time or two, it’s the same process and you can start getting better at it. Once you're through the learning curve you can find tricks of the trade to be more optimized.” The cable barrier is being supplied by Gibralter Cable Barrier System. Dustin Allen, Inc. was hired as a subcontractor to install the guardrail, which is considered to be a specialized trade that requires specialized equipment, such a as post driver which is set up for specific guardrail posts. “They’re averaging 400 feet removed and replaced in a day,” said Starr. “It’s a solid pace and they’re doing a good job. They use their drill to pull the old posts and drive the new ones back in. They’ll come in and unbolt everything first, and then pull the rail out of the way. Once the old posts are yanked out, we grade the dirt to the correct grade to place concrete under the guardrail where they none before. Then Dustin Allen comes back with the driver to install the new see MASSANA page 16
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