Replacement of a historic 70-year-old bridge in Pennsylvania’s Huntingdon County is part of an ongoing Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) project to improve the safety of a stretch of State Route 22 and its intersection with State Route 453 in Waterstreet, PA.
PennDOT initiated the project because this winding stretch of rural highway had such limited sight distance that it became the scene of numerous serious auto accidents.
Located in an environmentally sensitive valley, the job also involved construction of a second bridge and a box culvert close to a local flea market.
New Enterprise Stone & Lime Company Inc. (NESL) based in New Enterprise, PA, is the prime contractor for the project, which was bid on Oct. 26, 2000 with Notice To Proceed issued in December that year. Funding for the $12.6-million job is split between 80-percent federal and 20-percent state dollars, with 95 percent of the cost devoted to realignment.
Environmental
Considerations
Work began on the project in January 2001. However, certain aspects of its location made extra environmental precautions necessary. For example, in order to protect the local population of Wild Brown Trout and to avoid as much impact as possible on the network of streams in the area, NESL worked with the Pennsylvania Game Commission, the Pennsylvania Fish Commission, and the Huntingdon County Conservation District. Environmental safety measures undertaken included maintaining water flow to local streams and controlling highway run-off to prevent it from going directly into them, as well as provision of sedimentation and erosion controls to prevent contamination of the surrounding wetlands and streams.
Consideration also had to be given to 10 properties situated near the work site because they are eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Because five of the buildings stand within the construction area, an agreement involving PennDOT, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission was made. The agreement ensured that the project would have a minimal impact on these properties and other local historic sites and buildings.
The Waterstreet job is being carried out under the direction of Jim Knepper, NESL’s project superintendent. Currently numbering approximately 20, workers on the project have been augmented from time to time by asphalt paving and deck pouring crews so that at the height of activity last year there were about 50 workers on site.
Project Statistics
“Grading included over 900,000 cu. yds. of mostly rock excavation, 17,000 sq. yds. of presplit blasting, 45,000 tons of subbase, and over 3,000 ft. of storm drainage pipe,” said F. Michael Sulesky, senior project manager/estimator of NESL.
“The bulk cut excavation was moved with a Hitachi 1800 13-cu.-yd. backhoe and five 85-ton off-road Caterpillar 777Ds. The Hitachi is our prime earthmover and we currently have two of them,” he added.
In connection with the cuts involved, Sulesky said that two required presplit blasting, and that one, referred to as the “flea market cut” was a real challenge for Tom Reugg and his crew.
“The 1800 spread was used to move the bulk cut in the major part of the realignment area of this project, Sulesky said. “It was only run a single shift. Because of reduced productions with the smaller hoe and triaxles, we worked a double shift. The bulk cut represented roughly 600,000 cu. yds. of excavation. The other two cut areas were moved with a Komatsu 550 excavator and a fleet of about 12 triaxles.
“This excavation was all waste material, hauled to off site waste areas,” he continued. “These two cuts involved 200,000 cu. yds. and 60,000 cu. yds. respectively. Total excavation involved on the job is roughly 900,000 cu. yds. All of it is hard rock and has to be drilled and shot. The two smaller cuts required presplit blasting on a three-eighth slope.”
Two-thirds of the paving work is asphalt and the remainder (at and adjacent to the intersection) is concrete. The necessary material — more than 35,000 tons (31,500 t) of asphalt and more than 7, 000 cu. yds. (5,352 cu m) of concrete — is being supplied from the company’s plants in Tyrone, PA. The 12,000 sq. yds. (10,034 sq m) of mainline and shoulder, representing 99 percent of the concrete paving, has been completed. The remaining highway is blacktop, of which about 90 percent (approximately 30,000 tons [27,000 t]) is now completed.
Bridge Construction
The job also involves replacement of a 70-year-old bridge in Morris Township, within which Waterstreet lies, with a $700,000 structure, as well as a new $2.5-million, three-span structure carrying the realigned stretch of State Route 22 over a local creek and old State Route 22.
The replacement bridge has a cut stone architectural treatment and is a 47-ft. (143 m) long single-span concrete beam structure. The other bridge has 21, 150-ft. (46 m) long beams and is 56 ft. (17 m) wide. Its piers and abutments also have a cut stone architectural treatment.
“Excavation for the three-span structure was fairly deep at each pier. Pier No. 2 was located directly beside Shaffer’s Creek and temporary shoring was called for. The bottom of the footer was to be dug to rock and backfilled with Class C concrete, if undercutting was required to get to the rock.
“There was substantial undercutting to get to some competent rock and we were getting close to going below the bottom of the shoring,” recalled Sulesky. “As soon as PennDOT approved the rock to which we’d dug down, we wasted no time in getting the concrete from our Tyrone plant and backfilling the excavation to the planned bottom of footing, thus removing the unnerving shoring situation.”
Sulesky said that the small cut of 60,000 cu. yds. (45,874 cu m) was solid rock, right beside existing traffic that had to be maintained. “The cut basically started at the shoulder of the westbound lane and was about 100 ft. high and straight up,” he said. “It was about 700 ft. long and we were excavating roughly 15 ft. back into the cut to provide a wider traffic area.
“PennDOT had originally moved traffic only about 10 ft. over with a temporary barrier 34 in. high between traffic and the cut. We worked with them and convinced them to move the traffic over another 15 ft. with some temporary pavement widening. This helped tremendously.”
Three cuts of 600,000 cu. yds. (458,737 cu m) 200,000 cu. yds. (152,912 cu m) and 60,000 cu. yds. (45,874 cu m) respectively have now been completed.
Although the new section of State Route 22 opened to traffic on Jan. 29, 2002, work still remains to be completed on the project, including the demolition of a deteriorating small bridge on old State Route 22 and building a replacement at the same location.
“Just last week [early March], we demolished the existing bridge and we poured the new footers last Friday [March 8],” Sulesky said. “We’re reconstructing about 500 ft. of the roadway approaches on each side of this structure, and there’s also some tie-in work at both east and west ends of the job, where the new State Route 22 ties in to the existing State Route 22. This involves minor grading, subbase and blacktop paving at each end. We should complete all the remaining work by the end of June 2002, a couple of months ahead of PennDOT’s completion date of Sept. 13,” he added.
The Company
New Enterprise Stone & Lime Company Inc. (NESL) has been in the highway construction business for more than 75 years.
It recently completed two large earthwork and asphalt roadway projects worth $7 million and $14 million on West Virginia’s Corridor H highway, just east of Moorefield, WV.
In fall 2001, it completed two sections ($l9 million and $49 million respectively) on the Mon-Fayette Expressway, southeast of Pittsburgh, PA. Both of these projects involved large amounts of earthmoving, structure work and concrete paving.
In early March 2002, NESL was awarded a $66- million reconstruction job on the Pennsylvania Turnpike at Donegal and a $25-million earthwork project on State Route 15 for PennDOT.
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