PRESORT STDU.S. POSTAGE

PAIDLEBANON JCT, KY

PERMIT # 737

ACP 1028 Shelby Street Indianapolis, Indiana 46203

ELECTRONIC SERVICE REQUESTED

WESTERNBUILDER

serving MN, ND, SD, and WI since 1902

May 2014

ACPAssociated Construction Publications

PRESORT STDU.S. POSTAGE

PAIDLEBANON JCT,

KYPERMIT # 737

ACP 1028 Shelby Street Indianapolis, Indiana 46203

ELECTRONIC SERVICE REQUESTED

T&R Contracting and Sioux Falls Construction

Swiftly Reconstruct Sioux Falls Cliff Avenue/I-90 Interchange

4 Western Builder May 2014

Despite Weather and Heavy Traffic, Innovations Allow Quick Completion of Sioux Falls Cliff Avenue/I-90 Project

With deteriorating bridges and pavement dating back to the early 1960s, narrow left turn lanes, and less

than desirable drainage, Cliff Avenue and the Interstate 90 interchange on the north side of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, desperately needed reconstruction. How-ever, as the final phase of a multi-year project, the work caused yet another in-convenience for local travelers. Thanks to a self-consolidating concrete mix, mobile traffic trailers, strategic recycling, care-ful planning, and plenty of hard work, the South Dakota Department of Trans-portation (SDDOT) and its contractors managed to minimize disruptions, com-pletely rebuilding the roadway and two bridges in just seven months while main-taining traffic flow.

Reconstructing without DisruptionJointly funded by SDDOT, the City of

Sioux Falls, and the Federal Highway Administration, the $17.4 million re-construction covered a three-quarter mile stretch from 60th to 72nd Streets North on Cliff Avenue (a major road-

way through Sioux Falls), the I-90 in-terchange, and a one-mile section of the interstate that runs over Cliff Avenue. T&R Contracting, Inc., headquartered in Sioux Falls, served as prime contractor.

In addition to reconstructing the two bridges, the work included storm sewers, city utilities, grading, new signals, light-ing, and concrete surfacing. The project also added ADA-compliant pedestrian access on both sides of the street to ac-commodate recent residential develop-ment, as well as bike lanes identified in the city’s master bike plan.

The majority of the roadway consisted of two lanes in each direction, with a cen-ter turn lane or median in between. “We put head-to-head traffic on one side while we constructed the other side,” said Mike Heiberger, PE, SDDOT’s Project Engineer.

During construction, SDDOT also con-verted from a diamond interchange at I-90 to a single point urban interchange. “We see some benefits in safety with the single point urban interchange, but probably the biggest driving force was capacity,” explained Travis Dressen, PE, SDDOT’s Sioux Falls Area Engineer. “The

single points handle traffic better, espe-cially heavy left turns.”

The project is the last phase designed to improve capacity, safety, and pedestrian access along Cliff Avenue. “In the previ-ous year, we reconstructed Cliff Avenue to the south, so those who live in the area and commute through it had already been put through one year of construc-tion,” Dressen said. “That same year we also reconstructed a portion of the inter-state to the east, so we wanted to shorten the duration of this project and keep it to one year. We knew it would be an aggres-sive schedule.”

To minimize inconvenience to travelers and local businesses, SDDOT required the contractor to maintain traffic at all times, except for night closures start-ing after 8 p.m. and ending by 6 a.m. Throughout the course of the project, the team used less than a dozen night closures to tear down the old structures and erect the new bridge girders.

Bridges in a HurryAll those conditions added up to a

heavy load for the construction team. To

speed the process, SDDOT first let a sep-arate $1.1 million contract for the bridge girders. “We didn’t want any manufac-turing delays,” Heiberger said. The ear-ly start ensured the girders were ready when needed.

Using the Federal Highway Administra-tion’s “Every Day Counts” initiative, the team also incorporated precast sleeper slabs in the bridges. “They were built off to the side so when the contractor came ready to do that work, they just needed to pick them up and set them in place,” Dressen said.

Sioux Falls Construction Company, the bridge subcontractor, proposed an additional strategy to save time. “They opted to use self-consolidating concrete in the bridge footings and piers,” Hei-berger said. “It gains strength quicker so you can proceed to the next stage of the building process.”

That concrete also contributed to safety. “With self-consolidating concrete, there’s no vibrating necessary,” Heiberg-er explained. “You take your pump truck and drop your tube down into the form-work, pour concrete, and you don’t have

By Julie Devine

May 2014 Western Builder 5

Despite Weather and Heavy Traffic, Innovations Allow Quick Completion of Sioux Falls Cliff Avenue/I-90 Project

“Those who live in the area and commute through it had already been put through one year of construction…so we wanted to

shorten the duration. We knew it would be an aggressive schedule.”Travis Dressen, Sioux Falls Area Engineer, SDDOT

• Owner/Engineer – South Dakota Department of Transportation; Travis Dressen, Sioux Falls Area Engineer; Mike Heiberger, Project Engineer; Michell Knoll, John Hoing, and Dean Skatvold, Project Technicians

• Prime Contractor – T&R Contracting, Inc., Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Ryan Gulbrandson, Project Manager; Terry Gulbrandson, President• Bridge Subcontractor – Sioux Falls Construction Company, Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Ray Boren, Field Superintendent; Jared Gusso, Project Manager• Grading/Removals Subcontractor – Runge Enterprises, Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Jerry Ruerink • Underground Subcontractor – H&W Contracting, LLC, Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Tom Hurd • Electrical Subcontractor – Action Electric, Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Kevin Buehner • Signing/Erosion Control Subcontractor – BX Civil & Construction, Inc., Dell Rapids, South Dakota; Blake Harms• Traffic Control Subcontractor – Dakota Traffic Services, Tea, South Dakota; Mark Lottman

Key Project Personnel

6 Western Builder May 2014

anyone in harm’s way. Otherwise, you’re probably sending a guy down into rein-forcement in adverse conditions.”

As an added benefit, “You also end up with a little more aesthetically pleasing product,” Dressen said. “Self-consolidat-ing concrete is very fluid, so when you put it in the forms, it fills all the nooks and crannies and doesn’t leave air pock-ets like you might see with something thicker. It leaves a nice, smooth finish on the face.”

Finding a Better WaySDDOT added other new strategies to

the project. First, to facilitate vehicle flow, they used temporary traffic trailers with an arm that extends to hold a signal over the lane.

“The nice part with the trailers is you can move them to accommodate your situation,” Heiberger said. “We probably shifted the trailers for different phasing up to 10 times throughout the project. When we constructed the northbound lanes, we had the signal system in the southbound lanes. Once the new lanes were built, we moved the traffic trailers.”

Adjustments came easily each time a trailer moved. “The different trailers are able to communicate so you can change the timing and they’ll still coordinate with each other to keep traffic flowing as smoothly as possible,” Dressen said.

SDDOT also incorporated stainless re-inforcing steel in the bridge decks. “Typi-cally we use epoxy-coated black steel, but the stainless steel is more resistant to corrosion,” Dressen said. “It costs extra, but we feel it will extend the life of the bridge.”

Heiberger added, “For the amount of traffic that area sees, if we can add an-other five to 10 years of life before we have to go in and reconstruct, that’s defi-nitely a good thing.”

Overcoming Roadway ChallengesAs they tore up the old roadway, the

contractor crushed the pavement and incorporated it into the new subgrade. “That helped overcome some of the wet conditions early in the year when the soil is cold and damp from the winter so it’s not as easy to work with,” Dressen said. “It provided a stable platform, both for

the contractor to work and for our fin-ished product.”

Plans also called for a subgrade top-ping in the silty soil. “Incorporating the crushed concrete and granular material into the top of the subgrade helped mit-igate the effects of frost heave in our embankments, which leads to better long-term performance of our roadway,” Dressen added.

T&R Contracting used a KPI 2650 mo-bile crusher on the concrete. In addi-tion, they milled off the existing asphalt to incorporate into a future project and recycled steel from the old roadway and bridge structures.

When it came time to pave the new road, T&R Contracting utilized six dif-ferent slipform pavers at 10 different widths. “They recognized that constant-ly changing the paver widths would create downtime while the machines were reconfigured,” Dressen said. “To offset that potential loss of time, they used different machines set at different widths so they could pave one width while another area was being prepared, then pave at a different location with a different width.”

The concrete paving equipment in-cluded five two-track pavers (GOMACO GP-4000, GHP-2800, and GP-2400; and HEM 12-27 and 8-16) as well as a GO-MACO GT-3600 curb machine. All of the equipment was contractor-owned.

Making Up TimeThe team broke ground for the project

on April 8, 2013 – then a snowstorm arrived April 9, and the spring brought plenty of wet weather. “The contractor was already three to four weeks behind his schedule in May,” Heiberger said. “Thankfully June, July, and August were fairly dry and, to their credit, they put in some long hours to get back on schedule and meet the interim completion date of November 8.”

By July 18 of this year, the team will complete landscaping, median paving, pavement markings, and other minor items. In the meantime, the new inter-change has increased capacity and the new pavement recently earned the Award of Excellence in Concrete Paving from the South Dakota chapter of the American Concrete Paving Association.

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