Oklahoma contractors received three Gold and two Silver awards at the American Concrete Pavement Association 18th Annual "Excellence in Concrete Pavement Awards," the concrete pavement industry's highest order and most prestigious recognition of quality.
The awards recognize the contractors, engineers and owners whose efforts yielded the best pavements in airports, highways, and street and road applications in 2006. The Oklahoma winners by award category are:
Gold Winner: Reliever & General Aviation Airports — presented to (contractor) TTK Construction Company, Inc.; (owner) city of Enid, Oklahoma; and (engineer) LBR, Inc. for the reprofile, narrow, overlay, mark, and light of Runway 17/35 and the reconstruction of the connecting taxiways at Enid Woodring Regional Airport in Enid, Okla.
Contractor TTK Construction Company, Inc. convinced the design engineer and owner to rethink their existing asphalt plan for this project in favor of concrete. The project team took on a multiphase project to complete demolition, drainage improvements and grading operations to remove existing asphalt, repair cracks and level the course. The team took advantage of ideal temperatures in northern Oklahoma to pour an overlay and set up longitudinal construction joints.
Gold Winner: Divided Highways-Rural — presented to (contractor) Duit Construction Company, Inc.; (owner) Oklahoma Department of Transportation; and (engineer) Poe & Associates for the I-35 project in Love County, Okla.
An asphalt overlay was failing under continually increasing traffic on the main route from Oklahoma City to Dallas, and the Oklahoma DOT (ODOT) needed a solution. Thanks to thorough planning by contractor Duit Construction Company, Inc., Interstate 35 now has a 35- to 50-year life expectancy and excellent ride quality.
Duit used past experience to recommend concrete pavement detours rather than asphalt to avoid pavement failures, as well as cement kiln dust instead of fly ash, saving ODOT time and money in constructing this heavy-traffic route.
Gold Winner: County Roads — presented to (contractor) Duit Construction Company, Inc.; (owner) Oklahoma Department of Transportation; and (engineer) Chiang, Patel & Yerby, Inc., for Project MGSIY-0035-1 (138)001 on Merle Wolf Road in Love County, Okla.
The construction on Merle Wolfe Road was the first of three contracts to rebuild an existing narrow two-lane link between a fast-developing tourist attraction and the Interstate. Contractor Duit Construction Company worked with the Oklahoma Department of Transportation to consolidate the project into two phases of concrete paving instead of three.
A high number of curves and ramp connections also made this a challenging project to pave. Duit used a Global Positioning System, to fine grade and trim all the curves, supers, transitions, and straight-aways on the project. This resulted in a better concrete yield than expected and saved time by not having to place string line. Duit was able to achieve excellent smoothness of 1.85 inches per mile.
Silver Winner: Overlays — presented to (contractor) Duit Construction Company, Inc.; (owner) Oklahoma Turnpike Authority; and (engineer) Tetra Tech, Inc. for the Muskogee Turnpike (MU-MC-28) project in Wagoner County, Okla.
The existing pavement on this turnpike included a faulting asphalt overlay that wasn't holding up to traffic. The project team used solid engineering judgment and leadership to make this project easier, cheaper and faster than the original project plan to fix the ailing asphalt overlay.
Originally, the project was to include more than $650,000 worth of barrier wall movements for paving 24 feet wide with no traffic. However, contractor Duit Construction Company, Inc. saw where this would hamper concrete truck movements to and from the batch plant, as well as impact the traveling public. So, they proposed paving 12-foot lanes directly next to traffic for maximum paving and driving efficiency. The project included 48 lane miles of 3-inch-thin bonded concrete overlay. Duit achieved a smoothness of 1.5 inches per mile using a .20 blanking band and earned 62 percent of the available bonus, surpassing the turnpike authority's expectations. Duit hopes this project serves as an example of how concrete can be placed in the same manner as asphalt without requiring expensive barrier walls.
Silver Co-winner: Municipal Streets & Intersections (>30,000 SY) — presented to (contractor) TTK Construction Company, Inc.; (owner) Oklahoma Department of Transportation; and (engineers) city of Edmond and Clowers Engineering Co. for the Grade, Drain, Surface, Lighting, and Landscaping on Kelly Avenue Between S. 15th and S. 33rd, STP 155B(375)AG, in Edmond, Okla.
This project upgraded an existing four-lane undivided asphalt arterial roadway into a divided four-lane route with center medians, major landscaping, and decorative sidewalks. Contractor TTK Construction Company, Inc. worked with the city of Edmond to expedite the project's start time to facilitate a major golf tournament. The route provided a direct route from Oklahoma City to the tournament site for visitors, as well as the first access and entry into the city, so quality ride and aesthetics were both very important.
The overall project scope included removing 6 inches to 8 inches of asphalt surface, excavating to new grades, installing all new storm drainage structures, installing 8 inches of fly ash modified subgrade, placing a 3-inch asphalt base course, and then placing a surface course of 9-inch jointed plain doweled concrete pavement.
