I-40 pavement needs to be repaired
- From: John Lansford <jlnsford@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2005 05:03:18 -0400
http://www.newsobserver.com/front/story/2815601p-9261862c.html
DOT officials plan to make emergency repairs by Thanksgiving to the
worst damage in eastbound I-40 near N.C. 55. They are considering a
recommendation to tear out a 3-inch layer of concrete on four lanes of
the entire 10.8-mile, six-lane project -- and to replace it all with
asphalt.
"I'm pretty livid about it," said transportation board member Kenneth
B. Spaulding of Durham, who has driven over some of the potholes in
concrete that was poured just last year.
"It's absolutely ridiculous that you put in a new highway, and it's
put in wrong. And within months we are having to dodge rocks coming
out of the concrete that is breaking up."
The paving was botched because DOT engineers did not tell the
contractor how to do it correctly, says a 43-page report by Applied
Pavement Technology Inc., an Illinois-based consultant. DOT inspectors
also did not sufficiently examine the work as it was being done, the
report says.
Concrete added atop the original four travel lanes was improperly
designed and installed, the report said. Thousands of expansion joints
cut into the 3-inch top layer were supposed to extend through it to
the original concrete below, but most were cut only part way through.
Normal summertime expansion of the old concrete below put too much
pressure on the defective top layer, which is fracturing in some spots
and is likely to worsen elsewhere on the newly widened freeway, the
report said.
....
For the $51.5 million I-40 widening project, DOT chose a paving method
called bonded concrete overlay -- a process it had used for smaller
jobs on the Raleigh Beltline.
The top layer is supposed to be sliced into separate slabs that expand
and contract without bumping one another. When the work is done
properly, the top and bottom layers are bonded as one. Instead, tests
show that the two layers are separated along many parts of the widened
freeway.
Although DOT has little experience with bonded concrete overlay, its
Web site includes links to technical bulletins and other reference
materials that emphasize the importance of details its engineers may
have ignored.
The consultant's report said careful attention to the expansion joints
is crucial. It also suggests that the damage may be worse in some
areas, including N.C. 55, where the concrete paving was done at
temperatures below 50 degrees.
"The systemic problems exhibited along the length of this project in
both directions are not normally expected and represent failure in
design or failure in construction," the report said.
John Lansford, PE
--
The unofficial I-26 Construction Webpage:
http://users.vnet.net/lansford/a10/
.
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