Construction began in December 2018 and is estimated to be fully complete by year-end 2021.
The Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration (MDOT SHA) is in the process of replacing the I-95/I-495 (Capital Beltway) bridges over MD 214 (Central Avenue) in Largo as part of its continuing effort to keep bridges safe and reduce congestion.
According to Shanteé Felix, assistant media relations manager of MDOT SHA, the $26-million project involves the replacement of two bridges that were constructed in 1963 and widened in 1971.
"While safe for travel, the bridges have reached the end of their reliable service life and need to be replaced," she said.
The contract was awarded to Wagman Heavy Civil Inc. with Dan F. Alt as project engineer and Scott Miller as senior project manager.
Construction began in December 2018 and is estimated to be fully complete by year-end 2021.
In addition to replacing the I-95/I-495 bridges, the project includes the following activities: adding another lane on westbound MD 214 between the interchange ramps; constructing a bicycle-compatible shoulder on eastbound MD 214 between the interchange ramps; replacing a 54-in. water main at the interchange; and reconstructing the concrete median barrier.
"One thing that made this project challenging was the coordination of utility relocations because of conflicts within our work zone," Felix said. "There was also water seepage in the area because of a high water table or runoff that required mitigating. Additionally, this is a high traffic area and we had many instances where our equipment was damaged because motorists were speeding and not paying attention to our equipment and traffic controls."
Felix noted that Phase 1 of the project required a micro tunneling operation to relocate a 48-in. watermain along MD 214 because it conflicted with the new construction. During this process, approximately 512 ft. of 54-in. steel pipe encased in 72-in. reinforced concrete pipe was pushed under I-95/I-495.
The project includes 3,805.21 tons of asphalt. A total of 14,289.47 cu. yds. of earth was moved on I-95/495 over MD214.
Subcontractors include Collinson Inc for the concrete for sign foundations, wood sign support, sheet aluminum sign signal, removal of existing signs, relocation of existing ground mounted, break-away base support, galvanized steel beams and cantilever signs; Sun Rise Safety Services for installation of temporary traffic signs, reflective barrier markers temporary crash cushion and drums for maintenance of traffic; East Cost Concrete Inc. for saw cut asphalt pavement and saw cut 8-in. concrete bridge deck; Luna Concrete Inc. for gutter and inlet work; DRM Associates Inc. for installation of metal deck forms and furnishing and installation of 718-ft. diameter steel; Zone Striping Inc. for pavement marking and removal of existing pavement marking; Aggregate Industries-Mid Atlantic for superpave asphalt mix for patching and milling ; Garney Companies for water main work; Huxted Tunneling LLC for mobilization of micro slope, reinforced concrete casing pipe installed by micro tunneling and steel pipe installation in 72-in. casing pipe; Preston H. Roberts Inc for mobilization, furnishing and placing cellular concrete; Level Land Inc. for tree root pruning; Environmental Services LLC for temporary orange construction fence, circular pipe underdrain/outlets, 12-in. and 18-in. filter log, inlet protection, seed, mulch and turfgrass establishment; Rommell Infrastructure Inc. for concrete for light foundation, furnishing and installing electrical manhole, removal of electrical manhole, breakaway base support system for lighting structure, removal and relocation of roadway lighting structure and maintaining existing roadway lighting; RNG Construction for concrete for light foundation (camera pole foundation); Chesapeake Guardrails for installation of guardrails and end treatments; Olympus Painting Contractors Inc. for paint fabricating structural steel; Ajo Concrete Construction Inc. for milling machine rental; Mohawk Bridges And Iron Inc. for furnishing epoxy/plain bars for concrete barrier and pier, footing concrete, concrete parapets and placing cement bars for concrete parapet; Professional Maintenance Systems Inc. for staining substructure concrete for bridge, staining concrete parapet and epoxy protective coatings on abutments; and Site Services LLC for erosion and sediment controls and hydroseeding/stabilization.
Rented equipment used on the job includes 45-meter concrete pump, a manlift, a portable light, rollers and power buggies.
Owned equipment includes an American 9299 crane, an arrow panel, five B & J Sweeper Truck, a Cat backhoe, a Bidwell, a Bobcat 228, a Bobcat with a broom head, five Bobcats with milling heads, a boom track, five bucket trucks, a Case excavator, a Cat 924 G, a Cat wheel loader, a Wacker Neuson compactor, a crane/pile hammer, an HC110 crane, a LS318H crane, diamond grinding equipment, five dump trucks, five eradicating trucks, a Komatsu excavator, a Gydro vac truck, an Ice D30 hammer, five hydro blast trucks, five hydro seeder tanks, five hydro vac trucks, a 600S JLG lift, Ingersoll Rand light towers, a 660 JLG lift, five milling machines, five mini-excavators and a Cat AP655F paver. CEG
Brenda Ruggiero
Brenda Ruggiero has written for CEG for over 20 years. She lives near the town of Accident in far western Maryland. Her favorite assignments so far involved interviews with Survivor’s Boston Rob and hot dog eating champion Joey Chestnut. Both were involved in construction at one time.
Brenda holds a BA in Mass Communication with a writing focus from Frostburg State University and minors in Public Relations and Political Science. She works full time as a staff writer for a weekly newspaper, the Garrett County Republican. She enjoys feature writing the most, which gives her the opportunity to talk to people and share their stories.
Brenda and her middle school sweetheart, Reuben, have been married for over 34 years and have three grown children and four cats.
Read more from Brenda Ruggiero here.
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