US-95 Bridge Replacements
The project involved designing, removing and replacing eight bridges on US-95 in Adams County that had been originally built from 1936 to 1952.
The design-build project allowed KRC and the design team, Keller Associates, to work together with ITD under a single contract. KRC was the lead participant and was responsible for managing the overall project. Keller Associates was the lead engineering/design firm for the design of the eight new bridges. The partnership allowed KRC to work together with Keller to come up with various construction methods and an exceptional design.
The delivery of the project included furnishing all design services, construction surveying, quality management, materials, equipment, labor, transportation and incidentals required to complete the construction work according to plans and specifications.
The challenges included designing and constructing eight separate structures within an eight-month schedule, addressing the environmental impact and making sure the traveling public was aware of the future construction. Scheduling was further challenged with multiple work restrictions that included three main holidays – Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day – when KRC was not able to work or impede traffic in any way.
The project used several fairly novel construction methods to accelerate the work. Because this project was being designed and constructed under one contract, KRC was able to select all precast components for the structures, allowing the project to move forward without the usual curing time required with pour-in-place concrete structures.
The structures that required deep foundation work were accelerated by pre-driving the pile through the roadway without first excavating for the bridge foundations. This allowed the roadway to be patched for continued public use months in advance of the beginning of the bridge work.
For this project, the overall budget was a lump sum that had to be carefully managed. The original proposal for the project was $7,395,000; the final contract amount was $7,738,718, putting the final total within 5 percent of the original budget, a significant accomplishment. The majority of the increase paid for an erosion wall and the use of Ultra-High-Performance Concrete, which collectively totaled approximately $400,000.