Ahead of the game
The original target date for project completion was February 2020, but the team at FDOT ended up working ahead of schedule in order to ease construction impacts to the traveling public and local businesses. In order to meet the goal of finishing up by October 2019, some minor modifications to the maintenance of traffic plan were made to expedite construction. The contractor combined phases in some instances to accelerate the schedule, and also worked extra hours to ensure the target completion was met or exceeded.
“They worked seven days a week,” Stacy Hill, FDOT project manager, told Roads & Bridges. “A lot of it being 24-hour work pulling shifts to be able to implement that concrete.”
Another solution the contractor implemented into the project in order to expedite the process was to incorporate innovative material substitutions. “In order for us to move more quickly, the contractor elected to use class 4 concrete with a strength of 5,500 psi, with the same 28-day compressive strength break time,” James said. “So all that concrete was used to help accelerate the project and get it done a little quicker.”
Some of the steps taken to manage traffic during construction included relying on temporary pavements, which was used to provide extra road width to allow traffic to move through the work zones and maintain enough space for the work area. The team also implemented the use of low-profile concrete barriers to protect traffic from the work zone. Most of the work in the intersection was completed in very small sections working day and night over the weekends when traffic volumes were the lowest. The contractor also used flagging personnel and off-duty law enforcement officers extensively during the work in the intersection to provide direction and safety to the traveling public.
Overall, the team faced minimal impacts to the work schedule, with one exception being at the end of this summer when the threat of Hurricane Dorian loomed over the southeastern U.S. and the Caribbean. Along with other states in the region, the state of Florida was under a state of emergency that began on Aug. 28, 2019, which shut the project site down for a week. The storm, however, did not significantly impact the area.
Since the project finished up in October, FDOT has largely heard nothing but praise for the new pavement and the efficiency of the accelerated project schedule. “Definitely everyone is excited that the intersection’s open,” James said. “They’re happy with our choice of concrete because there were, prior to construction, those ruts there that we would get occasional calls about. So with the selection of concrete, we heard good feedback about that.”
Shakespeare once noted—in his comedy As You Like It—that “travelers must be content.” With the completion of these intersection improvements, it appears as if the travelers of Avon Park—a namesake for The Bard’s hometown—now can be.
About The Author: Bruns is associate editor of Roads & Bridges.