The Assembly of Christ Church in West Bloomfield Township, MI, has invested almost $1.9 million to bring neighborhoods together with a pervious concrete sidewalk safety path for walking and biking.
"The project included tree removal, wood boardwalks and retaining walls," Mario Audia, owner and president of Audia Construction, Inc., said. Audia Construction, Inc., of Milford, MI, was the prime contractor for the project. The project included catch basins and storm drain replacement. The project was constructed in 2008.
The pervious concrete used for this project includes Type I cement; 15,000 square yards of coarse aggregate 26A limestone; fine aggregate; 22 gallons of mix water; and 50 ounces of Delvo Retarding Admixture. Pervious concrete allows water to drain, but the benefits of pervious concrete for this project were more than just environmental. "The pervious concrete 'test placement' allowed municipal officials to see this material perform," said Brian Cato, territory sales manager at Superior Materials LLC.
Subcontractors included Miles Bradley, of Farmington Hills, MI (wooden boardwalk bridges); Conklin Landscaping, of Ann Arbor, MI; and Al's Asphalt, of Taylor, MI. Because of the magnitude of this project, it was necessary to evaluate the equipment needed in order to ensure productivity and achieve quality workmanship.
Audia said that the contractors based the selection of equipment on both the size and length of the project. There was equipment testing in addition to the equipment evaluation. Cato said that a 2-cubic-yard test pour was also used to make sure equipment was adequate for the project. The equipment used was a pervious concrete compactor and a mini-excavator for digging and heavy-duty landscaping.
Materials on the project included approximately 100,000 square feet of concrete sidewalk, 13,000 square feet of boardwalk, 4,000 square feet of retaining wall, and 20,000 cubic yards of land balancing.
"Pervious concrete placement is very different from conventional concrete placement. The 2-cubic-yard test pour gave the contractor the opportunity to go over the basic pervious concrete placement requirements," Cato said. Pervious concrete is a fairly new product; therefore, different techniques that are specific to pervious concrete must be used.
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