I-94 West Bound Between Exits 56 and 66 at Paw Paw, MI

Project Focus
This $16.7 million project consisted of removing and replacing almost 10 miles of westbound pavement on I-94 in Paw Paw.The Project was bid with the lane rental clause, which the Contractor bid at 84 days.Other work performed on the Project consisted of acceleration and deceleration lanes and upgrading tapers.Guardrail upgrades were completed and several bridges required rehabilitation, including two that were part of I-94.

Project Details
Schedule & Complexity
The Contract required that the reconstruction portion of I-94 could not begin until July 6 and had to be open to traffic by October 14,with an incentive/disincentive of $5,000/day. The crossovers and other preliminary work were completed prior to July 6. Ramp traffic was maintained at all times with the use of 2-stage crossovers. There was an unseasonable amount of rainfall in late September but the Contractor was still able to complete the work on time.

Construction & Innovation
The Contractor proposed, and MDOT accepted, a value-engineering proposal that split the cost of increasing the width of the existing median shoulder, thereby allowing 2 lanes of traffic to be maintained in the eastbound direction and one lane in the westbound direction, greatly minimizing traffic delays.Concrete was mixed with a Rex Model-S central mix plant and delivered to the grade in a steady supply of trucks to maintain a continuous flow to the paving train.The paving train consisted of a Guntert-Zimmerman 850 paver equipment with a transverse dowel bar inserter and a tube machine that helped to smooth and seal the slab.Also, 2 straight edge finishers followed behind the paver to correct any irregularities in front of the tube machine.

Quality
The measured ride numbers were very good on this Project, with some tenth of a mile segments in the low teens on a zero blanking band. This excellent ride was attributed to the modified 6” aggregate base that was used, giving the paving train a solid base to track on.Also, instead of the usual open graded underdrain, a subbase underdrain was placed. This made for a solid track line for the paving train as the paver tracks on top of this trench, a large improvement over the traditional peastone backfill of the open graded underdrain which often leaves relatively unstable track lines even when topped with open graded base. The Contract also required a five-year material and workmanship warranty on the concrete pavement.To provide assistance and documentation per the Contract requirements, the Contractor developed and executed an internal Concrete Quality Control program that included testing and inspection and in some areas was more stringent than that required by the Owner.IHC also employed a full time QA/QC manager who ensured that this quality is maintained.IHC inserted the dowel bars into the concrete and the placement of these was checked daily with wet checks during the slab and dowel bar placement. IHC assigned two people whose responsibility was to insure the concrete requirements were met regarding depth, width, tie bar and dowel bar placement and other Contract requirements. These checks were recorded throughout the day so that if a problem occurred it could be solved the next morning before paving continued. The ride was tested every morning using a lightweight profilograph and adjustments were made as necessary. The Contractor earned 100% strength incentive on this project.