The blasting requires road closures that will continue for a few months.
(Photo courtesy of NHDOT)
After the New Hampshire Executive Council approved an expenditure of $20.5 million for a road widening project for the Everett Turnpike in April, one element of the project was completed and the next one started.
Construction crews removed and repainted lanes to allow for traffic pattern changes in June and on July 7 crews began blasting rock in the northbound lanes to allow for the future addition of a through travel lane.
The blasting requires road closures that will continue for a few months.
"Behind me, there are black blasting mats, which we put over the shot to minimize how much rock flies," said Greg Tedeschi, NHDOT Construction Bureau contract administrator. "Once detonators are wired and set, the crews clear back 500-600 feet and the road is closed for explosion."
During the blasting, workers drill holes and drop in explosives that bring the roadway to a complete standstill for five to 20 minutes for each blast.
The blasting will remove 55,000 yds. of ledge and is the first part of a four phase project that will work on the southbound lane of the highway next.
Widening will take place on the northern and southern segments of the Everett Turnpike. The northern segment begins approximately 0.6 mi. south of the U.S. Route 3 overpass bridge and runs northerly for approximately 1.3 mi., ending at the southbound off ramp to NH Route 101 and the northbound on ramp from NH Route 101 within the I-293 interchange. The southern segment of the Everett Turnpike widening project begins approximately 2,000 ft. north of the Exit 8 overpass bridge in Nashua and runs northerly for approximately 1.5 mi., ending approximately 1,000 ft. south of the Exit 10 overpass bridge in Merrimack.
The project also will include rebuilding of two bridges over Pennichuck Brook in Nashua and Merrimack. The bridges are deteriorating and are not wide enough to accommodate the new third lane in each direction, so the new bridges will be slightly longer than the existing bridges with a concrete median barrier between north and southbound traffic and full shoulders in each direction.
The Greeley Street bridge in Merrimack does not require replacement or rehabilitation, but there will be maintenance repairs and upgrades to the bridge rail, bridge deck patching, replacement of the median guardrail with concrete median barrier, reconstruction of the bridge joints and abutment repairs.
The project to widen the highway include upgrades to safety features such as median shoulder width, roadside recovery area and guardrail. The paved median shoulders will be widened from 4 ft. to 11 ft. and the median guardrail will be replaced with a solid concrete barrier. The roadside recovery area will be improved to remove hazardous features, such as steep slopes, ledge outcrops and drainage culvert headwalls.
AJ Coleman & Son of Conway, N.H., is the general contractor for the project, which is scheduled for completion in the summer of 2024.
The construction equipment AJ Coleman is using on the Everett Turnpike project includes a Caterpillar M318F wheel excavator; a Cat 336E hydraulic hybrid excavator; a Cat D6N crawler tractor; a Bomage BW211D single-drum roller; a Gradall 534D telescopic forklift; and John Deere 300D compact tractors.
The Everett Turnpike was constructed in the early 1950s and has served as a link from central New Hampshire to U.S. Route 3 in Massachusetts. Today, it remains a vital north/south transportation corridor linking residents, communities, commerce and year-round tourists throughout New Hampshire and travel between the state and Massachusetts. The project proposes to widen portions of the roadway and either replace or rehabilitate bridges along a 12-mi. corridor beginning in the city of Nashua and extending north through the town of Merrimack and to the town of Bedford.
The major benefits of the project include improved traffic capacity and traffic conditions, improved safety and the rehabilitation or replacement of bridges. CEG
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