Wadsworth Blvd Whitetopping - JeffCo, CO

Project Focus
This Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) 3.8-mile project overlaid a key 4-lane divided urban arterial in Jefferson County. CDOT decided, based on several years of successful performance on similar thin and ultra-thin overlays, that concrete would provide superior long-term performance for this 40,000 ADT arterial between the outer belt loop C-470 and the major regional shopping center in the area.

Project Details
Schedule & Complexity
CDOT considered user costs a high priority, providing for a much-expedited schedule of 70 calendar days for completion and providing incentive/disincentive of $4,000 per day for early/late completion. The Contractor finished the work in 67 calendar days and received a $12,000 bonus. CDOT and the Contractor held weekly scheduling meetings that coordined the activities of multiple subcontractors, as well as updating public notices.

Construction & Innovation
The 4-lane divided section was built in two major phases with end crossovers and head-to-head traffic separated by painted lines and tubular channelizing devices. The suggested traffic control plan (TCP) closed each major intersection for reconstruction on five separate weekends from 7:00pm Friday until 5:30am Monday, for a minimum total of 12 days closure at each. CDOT partnered and accepted a Contractor proposal for closing each intersection for three separate 24-hour periods. This was accomplished by paving through each phase at 38’ width, including adding permanent PCCP turn-lanes and shoulders on each side, building temporary ramp-overs using milled material, and opening to traffic; all in less than 24 hours. The third 24-hour closure was required for removal of millings and final asphalt transitions. This innovative method saved a minimum of nine days of closure at each intersection and maintained full-time access for adjacent businesses.

A key to quality and schedule was paving the mainline through at 38 feet and adding the shoulders and turn lanes immediately adjacent to the wet concrete, using “fast-track” to enable opening to cross traffic in 24 hours. The Contractor set up the CMI 550 paver to insert six tiebars mechanically across the paver, which improved quality and productivity. The Contractor also moved the front tracks of the 100,000-pound paver inside the edge of pavement to improve the integrity of the track line and, consequently, the pavement smoothness.

Quality
The Contractor achieved 100% of the incentive available for strength and thickness and, notably, because of the five major intersections, 86% of the available incentive for smoothness. The Contractor’s subcontractor sawed and sealed over 39 miles of pavement joints with a high level of quality.

Public Relations
CDOT PR provided routine radio and local newspaper announcements throughout the progress of the project. The Contractor’s fulltime Public Information Manager prepared and hand-delivered fliers prior to each upcoming traffic switch to all adjacent homeowners and businesses. The contractor also mailed over 10,000 fliers to people in the broader influence area announcing each major change in the traffic control plan.