The American Concrete Pavement Association and cosponsor Concrete Construction magazine are pleased to honor the 2006 winners of the 17th Annual National Excellence in Concrete Pavements Awards. The awards recognize contractors, engineers, and owners for their work on quality concrete pavement projects throughout the United States. One change in the program this year was naming two levels of winners: gold and silver. Renaming the award levels after two noble metals signifies ACPA's recognition of some of the best, most enduring, and highest quality pavement projects in the transportation community.
Photos and short summaries of the gold level award-winning projects are provided here. For a complete list of both the gold and silver award winners, click here.
Urban Arterials & Collectors
Gold Winner: Williams Lake Road Relocation, Pontiac Lake Road to Gale Road, Waterford Township, Oakland County, Mich.
Contractor: Tony Angelo Cement Construction Co.
Engineer: Hubbell, Roth, and Clark
Owner: Road Commission for Oakland County
Williams Lake Road winds through the scenic eastern edge of the Pontiac Lake State Park. Its relocation from Pontiac Lake to Gale Road included removal of two peat holes, which required the placement of steel sheet piling and large quantities of excavation; construction of an attractive four-lane boulevard from M-59 to Gale Road; and aligning the offset M-59 and Williams Lake Road intersection into a safer traditional intersection. The $6.l million 48,000-square-yard concrete project was designed to be built in four stages, but the construction team developed a single-phase plan instead. That turned out to be critically important because the project had numerous delays caused by utility conflicts and unforeseen soil conditions. The new concrete pavement is 30 feet wide in each direction with two 12-foot travel lanes and 3-foot concrete shoulders. Paving was complicated due to the rate of super elevation and the differing cross slopes of the shoulders. Slag cement was used to help mitigate ASR and aircraft cable was used for string lines to help obtain an incredibly smooth ride.
Municipal Streets & Intersections (<30,000 SY)
Gold Winner: Base Pavements—Elam Road, Vance Air Force Base, Enid, Okla.
Contractor: TTK Construction Co. Inc.
Engineer:U.S.Army Corps of Engineers
Owner: U.S. Air Force
Elam Road is the industrial access road for Vance Air Force Base, Enid, Okla., where more than 300 military pilots are trained each year. This reconstruction project involved removing existing portland cement concrete and asphalt pavement along Elam Road, removing and replacing curbing on adjacent parking lots, and milling and overlaying existing asphalt lots and surrounding streets. The project was broken into three phases starting at the north entry security gate and moving south 3500 feet. Elam Road was to be reconstructed from a 24-foot-wide pavement with asphalt shoulders in places, to a 28-foot-wide portland cement concrete pavement with integral curbing and no shoulders. All shoulder parking was moved to existing or newly constructed parking lots. Additionally, numerous street returns and driveways were paved in conjunction with each phase. TTK Construction Co. proposed switching the phasing to start with phase 3, at the south end, and finish with phase 1, at the north end.
Municipal Streets & Intersections (>30,000 SY)
Gold Winner: Grand Avenue Paving Project, Glenwood Springs, Colo.
Contractor: Concrete Works of Colorado Inc.
Owner/Engineer: Colorado Department of Transportation
This $3.5 million reconstruction project passes through the heart of historic Glenwood Springs, Colo. It involved the full reconstruction of 4700 lineal feet of a five-lane city arterial with parking on both sides. Because the paving activities directly affected Glenwood's entire downtown business district, all main line paving had to be done on weekends. The city initially limited the contractor's work zone to two city blocks with each lane being paved separately. After seeing how quickly the first segment was completed, and without generating complaints, the city asked the contractor to increase the work zone size (it doubled and tripled in length and width by the end of the project). The contractor used high early strength concrete and night paving to complete intersections. Adding to the pavement's longevity is the use of recessed pavement striping.
State Roads
Gold Winner: CMAY-021N(005) Richardson Loop Interchange, Ada, Pontotoc County, Okla.
Contractor: Duit Construction Company Inc.
Engineer: Cobb Engineering
Owner: Oklahoma Department of Transportation
The Richardson Loop connects Ada's north side with State Highway 99. Its reconstruction was needed to handle future traffic needs created by commercial, industrial, and residential growth on the north side of Ada. The $8.3 million project included removing the existing roadway and reconstructing 131,000 square yards of 10-inch dowel-jointed concrete paving, a new four-span bridge, 640,000 cubic yards of excavation (including 350,000 cubic yards of rock), and all associated underground and subbase work. The existing two lanes of asphalt were converted into a new four-lane portland cement concrete highway connecting a new SH 3 to SH 99. The project also included 24,000 lane feet of ramps. The 35 separate curves, 35 different supers to transition in and out of, including 62 different transitions to tie into, one bridge tie in, eight different gore points to transition in and out of, and the merging of multiple lanes in different parts of the project—all within an 8300-foot long area—made the job very difficult.
