Andrew Kittredge, president of CPM Constructors, said, “With this project being a four-year job, the escalation on steel was going to be a problem so MDOT allowed us to switch to ChromX rebar.”
(CPM Constructors photo)
The contractor of Maine Department of Transportation's bridge replacement project in Yarmouth overcame the impact of the rise in steel prices during the Russia-Ukraine conflict by switching to ChromX rebar for the second half of the project.
"When the war in Ukraine started, steel prices started going up because Ukraine is one of the major suppliers of nickel," said Andrew Kittredge, president of CPM Constructors, Freeport, Maine, the lead contractor on the project. "With this project being a four-year job, the escalation on steel was going to be a problem so MDOT allowed us to switch to ChromX rebar. The southbound structure was completed with stainless steel and we made the switch when we started the superstructure. The northbound will be all ChromX."
A Cascade Steel product page noted, "ChromX is a high-strength corrosion resistant concrete reinforcing steel and two ChromX rebar grades can allow less steel to be used and provide varying amounts of elevated corrosion resistance."
"When the price of stainless steel skyrocketed, it introduced a lot of uncertainty as to whether or not there would be a sufficient quantity available to satisfy demand," said Paul Merrill, MDOT spokesman. "We responded by specifying less stainless steel reinforcement and using more high chromium ChromX steel reinforcement in new contracts. For existing contracts like Yarmouth, where a high quantity of stainless steel reinforcement was required, we allowed the contractors to propose an alternate reinforcement type [typically ChromX]."
"The Maine Department of Transportation is replacing two interstate bridges that carry the northbound and southbound sides of I-295 over Route 1 near Exit 17 in Yarmouth," said MDOT. "This project also involves extending the Beth Condon Memorial Pathway to the Yarmouth Visitor Center. The southbound interstate bridge will be built on a new alignment."
Yarmouth's Bridge Advisory Committee identified two major goals for the project: create a bridge that reinforces the traditional look and feel of the historic village and connect vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian linkages to reflect the town's Complete Street policy, and improve the continuity of the Beth Condon Memorial Pathway.
For the Beth Condon Memorial Pathway, a recreation path in Yarmouth, the town's website noted that the town "recently received a Planning Partnership Initiative matching grant from Maine Department of Transportation to develop a plan to extend the Beth Condon Memorial Pathway along Route 1 from Exit 17 to the Cousins River Bridge.
"The Parkway currently ends on Route 1 south of Exit 17, at the Citgo station. In 2023, the Beth Condon Pathway will be extended to Exit 17, where it will cross from the west side of Route 1 to the east side at the recently installed traffic signal. This extension will be constructed in conjunction with the planned replacement of the I-295 bridge over Route 1, and the bridge and path projects will be bid together by MaineDOT. The proposed path is a 12-feet wide multiuse path beginning 0.06 of a mile southwest of Spring Street and extending northerly 0.50 of a mile to the State of Maine Visitor Information Center building along Route 1 as well as crossing Route 1 at the Exit 17 traffic signal and heading to the Delorme/Garmin entrance."
Kittredge said CPM Constructors started work on the bridge project in fall 2021 and began work on the southbound side.
"We've completed the substructure for both abutments and the pier with structural steel for the southbound side, formed the deck and placed rebar for the deck," he said. "We built both the approach, drainage, on and off ramp work and started the temporary median crossover."
When asked what CPM Constructors needs to do to complete the project, Kittredge said, "We have to finish the southbound bridge, demo the existing northbound bridge, build the new northbound bridge and demo the existing southbound bridge."
Work will begin on the northbound bridge in July and August, he said, adding that the company has not started on the Beth Condon Memorial Pathway, and it will probably be completed at the tail end of the project.
The contract amount is $27,566,210. This project is the recipient of federal grant funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Competitive Highway Bridge Program. The project is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2025. CEG
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