Weather just warm enough to pave SB lanes in Phase 1 of Centennial rebuild
In work Nov. 30 along the southbound-traffic
side of Centennial Boulevard, a truck (in front) has delivered fresh asphalt into the
application machine behind it, while workers ensure that the material winds up in
the right place. Farther back, a heavy roller compacts pavement that was applied
only minutes before. The location is about 200 feet north of Chesham Circle.
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The contractor, Kiewit Infrastructure Co., needs “three good days,” according to Ryan Phipps, the project manager for City Engineering, to pave the two southbound lanes between Garden of the Gods Road and Chesham Circle,
The hope is that the other two days will come right afterwards, said Joe Garcia, who oversees the Centennial work on-site through city-contracted Wilson and Co. “We're trying to get it done before the weather turns really bad,” he said.
The first sublayer is completed along the future
"fast lane" of southbound Centennial Boulevard between Garden of the Gods
Road and this spot, just north of Chesham Circle, Nov. 30. The workers were
bundled up for the weather, which was hovering around 40 degrees.
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Started in early September, the current work is the first of three phases in a $9 million Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority project to rebuild/repave the four-lane Centennial between GoG Road and Fillmore.
The city adheres to Pikes Peak Regional Asphalt Paving Specifications in deciding whether it's warm enough to put down asphalt, Phipps said. If the ground (“subgrade”) is too cold, the asphalt won't set properly.
A specialized gauge is able to measure the subgrade temperature, and by 11 a.m. Nov. 30, with the help of mostly sunny skies, it was warm enough, Garcia said.
Paving the southbound lanes fulfills the city's minimum Phase 1 goal as stated earlier this year. The hope then was that both northbound and southbound lanes of the 2,200-foot segment GoG Road-to-Chesham segment could get paved by the end of 2016 but southbound at the very least.
The overall paving plan is to lay down two “sublayers” of 3 inches, topped by a final “lift” of 2 inches. The latest work
A view from another angle shows the fresh
asphalt being sprayed onto the subgrade during the Centennial paving work Nov.
30.
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In early October, the expectation was that the final grading and concrete work would be done in time to allow paving to start by mid-November. There has been no rain or snow to slow things down, But a number of "little things" kept cropping up to cause delays, Garcia said.
During Phase 1, the traffic in the work zone has been reduced to one lane each way, with vehicles in both directions temporarily using the northbound side. After the sublayer paving, the one-lane-each-way scenario will briefly continue, but in a different configuration, one that allows Kiewit to perform some work along the median. When that is done, work will stop for the winter and Kiewit will create a temporary four-lane configuration until spring. “All of this work is weather dependent, but we hope to have all four lanes open to traffic by the end of December,” Phipps said.
Plans call for Kiewit to also complete the other two project phases in 2017.
Westside Pioneer article
(Posted 11/30/16;
Transportation:
Major Roads)
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