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Design-Building I-77
Rea Construction hoping to close
out NCDOT's first design-build road job
As other states have done, the North Carolina Department
of Transportation recently adopted design-build as a viable
project-delivery method. Charlotte-based Rea Construction
turned NCDOT's first design-build roadway project into a nationally
award-winning effort - but clouds still linger over the contract's
ultimate completion.
by Scott Judy
Even though Charlotte-based Rea Construction jumped out to
a five-month lead, and has since won national awards for its
efforts, the firm is now struggling to finish its $84 million
Interstate 77 contract in Charlotte on time.
Whether the J.A. Jones subsidiary ultimately proves successful
in its goal remains a question mark, but Rea's achievements
related to safety, project innovation and community interaction
are likely to endure.
"They've done an outstanding job," said Rick Baucom,
resident engineer with NCDOT.
That's notable, as this contract represents the North Carolina
Department of Transportation's first-ever design-build roadway
project. The contractor's efforts also have garnered national
awards from the National Asphalt Paving Association and the
American Road and Transportation Builders Association for
safety and public relations.
Rea won the contract through a qualified-selection basis
with a bid of roughly $71 million. Through a supplemental
agreement added to the project later, the total cost of the
contract increased to about $84 million. The main scope of
the contract was to widen roughly 8.1 mi. of I-77 from four
to eight lanes, within the existing right-of-way.
HDR Engineering is the project's engineer, with Ralph Whitehead
Associates, Charlotte, assisting. In its original proposal,
the Rea-HDR team committed to a schedule that would complete
the project 125 days ahead of the DOT's November 2004 completion
date. Even with the added scope, the new completion date of
early October is still ahead of that.
Rea started work in December 2001 - not the optimal time
to begin construction.
"Traditionally, companies would rebuild the outside
shoulder, [then] shift traffic to the outside and then start
working on the inside," said Kipp Cheek, project manager
for Rea. "We jockeyed with some of the alignments that
allowed us to start work in the median immediately, and that
probably saved us five or six months because the project started
in wintertime when you couldn't do a whole lot of paving."
This first phase of the project would include grade preparation
for the length of the project, with asphalt paving work beginning
in April. The existing road had been originally built as concrete
and later overlaid with asphalt. Under Rea's contract, the
new lanes would be built with asphalt, and the existing mainline
milled and replaced with new asphalt of roughly 6 in.
Getting into the median was a trick. Rea's solution to the
median-access problem would win it NAPA's first-ever "Workzone
Safety Innovations Award" and ARTBA's "2002 National
Work Zone Safety Award."
Working with design subconsultant Ralph Whitehead Associates
and subcontractor F.T. Williams, the team built a 28-ft. earthen
ramp in the median up to the W.T. Harris Boulevard bridge
over I-77. The ramp presented its own unique design and construction
challenges.
"The shoring had to not only support the ramp, but also
protect the proposed Harris Boulevard bridge footings to be
constructed at the base of the sheet piling," Cheek said.
"This meant the sidewall height of the ramp would be
over 20 ft. Since the front wall of the ramp would be directly
against the existing bridge, deflection of this sheeting could
not exceed .5 in., with only 1 in. of clearance between the
ramp and existing bridge."
The contractors removed the bridge's outside rail and repainted
the bridge lane stripes to make narrower lanes and to provide
for a "truck-only" lane, enhancing the safety of
the truckers as well as the motorists traveling on I-77 and
Harris Boulevard. The state highway patrol cited this innovation
for the low number of accidents on the interstate within the
project limits.
By using the ramp, Cheek said, "We never had to put
a dump truck on the interstate. That was important because
it allowed us to do the work during the day, and it helped
us accelerate the project."
Without such an approved plan, NCDOT was going to restrict
truck hauling to night hours only. The project required the
truckers to make an estimated 250 trips per day from the nearby
asphalt plant to the jobsite.
Supplemental Agreement
After the median work, Rea and its team of subcontractors
began reconstructing the existing lanes and all construction
on outside existing lanes, such as the new shoulders. Rea
handled the asphalt-paving work itself.
Subcontractors Delta Contracting and American Milling handled
various portions of the milling, which involved taking 2.5
in. off the existing asphalt mainline for the entire length
of the project.
A major change in the project occurred at the I-77/Interstate
85 interchange. Going in, the intent had been that all lanes
would be general-purpose. Later, NCDOT opted to have both
inside north- and southbound lanes serve as high-occupancy
vehicle lanes. As the project progressed, the team discovered
there was insufficient room to get all of these lanes under
the I-85 overpass.
As a result, NCDOT and the project team agreed to separate
out the southbound I-77 HOV lane into an elevated structure
- aligned over the northbound HOV lane - that would pass over
I-85.
"When you're running south and you get to the I-85 interchange,
there's a two-lane ramp that runs into the southbound lane,"
Cheek said. "With that and the bridges, there wasn't
enough room. So for that fourth lane we built its own road
up and over the interchange and back down the other side."
Design-Build Different
This project was a first for Rea Construction and NCDOT.
"Going into this, there was really no script on how
it was [to be] done," Cheek said. "So we were kind
of pioneers on building a road using the design-build method."
To accelerate the project, the team divided it up into small
segments, so construction could proceed as quickly as design
work was completed. This helped the contractor get started
as soon as possible and eased the burden on the NCDOT staff,
which was facing a turnaround time for contractor submittals
that was limited to 10 days, instead of the usual 30 to 45.
"Splitting the job into segments allowed DOT to not
be overwhelmed," Cheek said. "We tried to make our
submittals small."
For NCDOT, this was a significant change. "A 10-day
turnaround on submittals meant a really big change for our
design people in Raleigh," engineer Baucom said. He added
that for the most part, though the department was able to
meet the deadline.
"The department is generally happy with design-build,"
Baucom said. "To get that design-build done that way,
the department had to relinquish the control it has on the
design."
This cultural change has been more positive for the contractor.
"I have fallen in love with it," Cheek said of
the design-build process. "It takes a lot more energy
than traditional projects. It takes a lot more communication
than traditional projects. And obviously it takes more resources.
But it's exciting because I know we're giving the taxpayers
an efficiently built road.
"As a contractor, we have the opportunity to build the
road the way we want to. We're kind of controlling our own
destiny for the first time in our lives, and that's exciting."
A couple of items out of Cheek's control, however, are Mother
Nature and the financial status of Rea's parent company, J.A.
Jones. While area rains eroded the contractor's five-month
lead, J.A. Jones' well-documented financial struggles have
darkened the Rea team's prospects going into the project's
final stages.
"The rain has killed us," Cheek said. "And
our company has had some financial struggles that are hindering
us. So we're being overly challenged on finishing the project,
especially since we had such a good start on it. We still
have hopes of finishing on time."
Interstate 77 Design-Build Team
Owner: North Carolina Department
of Transportation
General Contractor: Rea Construction
Co., Charlotte
Engineer: HDR Engineering,
Charlotte
Engineering Consultant: Ralph
Whitehead Associates, Charlotte
Construction Inspection: Mulkey
Engineering, Raleigh, N.C.
Milling Contractor: Delta Contracting
Milling Contractor: American
Milling
Useful Sources:
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