Falling short

State highway departments look for more from SAFETEA-LU

By Mark Friedman

Some state highway officials are unhappy with the amount of money they're seeing from the federal highway funding bill that went into effect last year.

The Safe, Accountable, Flexible and Efficient Transportation Act - A Legacy for Users is providing $244.1 billion for highways, highway safety and public transportation through 2009.

But a spokesman for the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department said Arkansas will receive less than it expected under SAFETEA-LU.

"We kept hearing that (SAFETEA-LU) was going to be significantly larger [than the previous funding bill]," said Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department spokesman Randy Ort. "Ultimately it hasn't been that great."

Under SAFETEA-LU, the average amount Arkansas will receive between 2006 and 2009 will be $500 million. But after the deductions for local projects and nonconstruction programs, the average amount will be $411 million under SAFETEA-LU, compared to $432 million between 2003 and 2005.

advertisement

"So we're getting $21 million less for road and bridge construction under SAFETEA-LU," Ort said.

The Alabama Department of Transportation will see a slight increase in funding under SAFETEA-LU.

In ADOT's fiscal year 2005, it received $630.3 million in federal funding, said ADOT spokesman Tony Harris. Through the first three quarters of fiscal year 2006, the ADOT has received $575 million and is on pace to receive between $650 million and $700 million for its fiscal year that ends Sept. 30.

"Does it mean that we can do more in terms of construction projects in Alabama? Not really," Harris said.

Under SAFETEA-LU most of money is earmarked for specific projects or specific types of programs, such as adding shoulders to rural roads to make them safer.

"Is that a boom for the construction industry?" Harris said. "No, but it's good for the traveling public." He added that the escalating price of steel, asphalt, concrete and fuel also reduces the number of highway construction projects that ADOT can afford.

The cost of highway and street construction continued to rise at a record pace and was up 16.4 percent in May, the latest figure available from the American Road & Transportation Builders Association of Washington, D.C.

With the rising costs of materials, "states aren't going to have as much money to be able to cover other [construction] projects that they normally would," said American Road & Transportation Builders Association spokesman Matt Jeanneret.

Despite this, several sizeable road projects are under way across the south central region, all largely funded by federal money. Following are some of the larger projects:

U.S. Hwy. 167, North Little Rock, Ark. Construction work began in December on a 6-mi. section of U.S. Hwy. 167 in North Little Rock, Ark.

The $42 million project calls for Weaver-Bailey Contractors Inc. of El Paso, Ark., to demolish the current two-lane highway and turn it into three lanes between Interstate 40 to Kiehl Avenue.

The six-mile tract also includes the building of four bridges and the Kiehl overpass will be torn down and rebuilt.

"We're taking out all the old pavement and putting in new pavement and new bridges," said Don Weaver, vice president of Weaver-Bailey Contractors. "We are going to recycle virtually everything back into the new road."

Dealing with the 8,000 vehicles a day that pass through the construction zone will be the biggest problem, Weaver said.

"We do some work at night," he said. "There's a restriction on when we can close lanes. The traffic's the biggest problem for both the public and us."

U.S. Hwy. 82, Chico County, Arkansas. The $65.9 million bridge approach project for the U.S. Hwy. 82 Mississippi River Bridge is scheduled for completion in October 2008.

Austin Bridge & Road LP of Irving, Texas, began working on the structure in Chico County, Ark., in March.

The project calls for constructing a 2,700 ft. four-lane highway which connects to a 4,700 ft. bridge that attaches to the new Mississippi River Bridge, said Tony Stehling, south east regional manager.

The bridge and approach work also merges with the two-lane U.S. Hwy. 82.

"The [approach] bridge is 36 spans and all but three are precast concrete girders," Stehling said. "We have one three-span steel unit, which basically goes over the levy."

About two-thirds of the bridge will be on 1,220 millimeter drill piers and the other third will be on 24-inch concrete pilings. The depths of the pilings vary, but the tallest pier will be 120 ft. in the air, Stehling said.

Throughout the construction, Stehling said he will keep an eye on the Mississippi River.

"Over half of our contract is between the levy and the river," he said. "So if the river gets up out of its bank, it'll flood that part of our job, which is about two thirds of the job."

Interstate 69, Tunica and Desoto counties, Mississippi. The construction of the first leg of Interstate 69 in Mississippi began in spring 2005 and should be completed by October.

The 17.32-mi. stretch will be a new four-lane highway from U.S. Hwy. 61 north of Tunica to Interstate 55 north of Hernando. It also includes the Mississippi State 713 Spur connecting to the existing Mississippi State Hwy. 304 east of Robinsonville.

The $53.8 million job is also the largest concrete paving project for Mississippi in decades, said Leslie Owens, a spokeswoman for the Mississippi Department of Transportation.

The interstate will be 6 in. of base, 4 in. of open-graded asphalt and 13 in. of concrete paving, said Nick Haynes, division president of APAC Tennessee Inc. of Memphis.

The site for the new road was an open field in Tunica and Desoto counties.

"That's a pleasantry to be able to build new construction across virgin land that you don't have to deal with existing traffic," Haynes said.

But the biggest challenge was getting project organized, coordinated and executed, Haynes said.

"We had ourselves, two major subcontractors and, of course, the [Mississippi] DOT," he added. "But it worked because we're going to complete the job on time."

The expected completion date is October.

Interstate 40, Memphis, Tenn. Dement Construction Co. started working in July on two bridge projects on Interstate 40 near the Mississippi River.

The $58.1 million contract requires the Jackson, Tenn., based construction company to raze and replace a 2,536-ft. relief bridge, said project manager Ty Capps.

"(The bridge) is going to be replaced one half at a time," Capps said.

The new bridge will have a concrete deck with structural steel girders. The 24-inch steel pipe piles will be driven about 50 ft. into the ground. The bridge will have 35,000 cu. yds. of concrete in it, Capps said.

In addition to building the new bridge, Dement also will seismic retrofit a 1,000-ft.-long relief bridge.

The footings, columns and caps will be strengthened to meet earthquake standards.

The projects are part of a federal funding package to retrofit the Interstate 40 Mississippi River Bridge. Arkansas and Tennessee also are funding the project.

Dement's work should be completed at the end of 2008.

U.S. Hwy. 64, Lincoln County, Tennessee. The centerpiece of a $28.8 million, 6-mi. road and bridge project in Lincoln County, Tenn., is two 775 ft.-long bridges over the Elk River.

Highway Inc. of Cookeville, Tenn., started working on the project in April 2005 and is expected to be finished in June 2008, said Highway Inc. project manager Lee Jones.

In addition to the steel bridges over the Elk River, the project calls for the widening of the two-lane U.S. Hwy. 64 at Fayetteville east to four lanes with a turning lane.

Adjacent to Hwy. 64, Highway Inc. first will build two lanes with 12 in. of crushed stone and 10.5 in. of asphalt.

Traffic then will be moved onto the new lanes and workers will remove the old road and build the remaining lanes.

The project also calls for the razing of the metal two-lane bridge over the Elk River after one of the new two-lane bridges is built. The new bridges will have steel plates and barriers with an 8- to 9-in. concrete deck and substructure.

U.S. Hwy. 64, Franklin County, Tennessee. Two road construction projects encompassing 9 mi. at a cost of $24 million on U.S. Hwy. 64 in Tennessee should be finished in October 2007.

Highway Inc. is expanding the two-lane highway from the Lincoln County line to Belvidere to four lanes, said project manager Lee Jones.

The first project, which cost $11 million, started in the spring of 2004 and ended this summer. The second project started in May and should be completed in October 2007. Both projects are approximately 4.5 mi. long.

The western section of the project also will feature two sets of bridges that are 300 ft. long. The pre-stressed concrete beams are built off-site and delivered to the site.

"We fit them and then pour the deck on top of those [concrete beams]," Jones said.

One advantage of constructing adjacent road projects was having all the road equipment on-site, he said.

State Route 24, Franklin County, Alabama. The $20.4 million Red Bay, Ala., bypass should be finished in November 2007.

S&M Equipment Co. of Colbert City, Ala., is building four lanes on State >> Route 24 from the city limits of Red Bay to the Mississippi line, said Lynn Johnson, project manager for S&M.

Spread over the 5.84-mi. stretch will be 12,500 tons of asphalt, Johnson said.

The contract also calls for the construction of four relief bridges, a bridge over Bear Creek, a bridge over the proposed Corridor V on County Road 9 and one over State Route 19.

Before construction started in August 2005, State Route 24 was a two-lane highway.

The old highway, which parallels the new one, will continue to be used.

"The existing two lanes that goes through Red Bay will still be used as a main thoroughfare," Johnson said.

U.S. Hwy. 80, Marengo and Sumter counties, Alabama. R.R. Dawson Bridge Co. LLC is constructing five bridges on a 4.5-mi. stretch of U.S. Hwy. 80 in Marengo and Sumter counties in Alabama.

The $27.4 million project started in May 2005 and should be completed at the end of the year, said Danny Newman, office manager for R.R. Dawson in Bessemer, Ala.

The centerpiece of the project will be a 2,797-ft.-long structural steel bridge with concrete beams and a concrete deck that will hold four lanes of traffic.

Interstate 20, Eastaboga, Ala. By August 2007, a 5.4-mi. stretch of Interstate 20 in Talladega County, Ala., will expand from two lanes to three in each direction.

McCartney Construction Co. of Jackson, Ala., started work on the $28.4 million project at Eastaboga, Ala., in July 2005.

The contract calls for a total rehabilitation of the road in addition to adding lanes on the east and west sides of the interstate.