Borman Expressway
Reconstruction Brings Highway Up to Speed
by Paula Widholm
It has been more
than 50 years since crews dug into the peat bogs of northwest Indiana to create
Interstate 80/94, the 13-mi. stretch of highway between the Indiana-Illinois state
line and Interstate 65.
The digging is going on again. As part of a $300 million reconstruction
project, the highway's original pavement is being taken out and replaced with
new 15-in.-thick concrete pavement.
Originally, the thoroughfare now known
as the Borman Expressway had two lanes in each direction. In the 70s, third lanes
were added.
Originally designed for 60,000 vehicles per day, the highway
currently handles more than 160,000 cars and trucks, which makes it one of the
nation's busiest. Commercial trucking accounts for more than 40 percent of the
traffic on the major east-west interstate, which connects the Chicago area with
the east and west coasts.
When finished in 2009, the new highway is expected
to handle traffic volumes for 20 years and will feature:
More lanes
for a total of four through-lanes in each direction with fifth auxiliary lanes.
New collector-distributor lanes at the Burr, Grant and Broadway interchanges to
help motorists enter and exit the highway without impeding traffic in the main
travel lanes.
Lengthened interchange ramps and new bridges to maximize
vehicle flow.
Enhanced lighting.
New drainage facilities
to reduce and eliminate water ponding on the highway.
New and reconditioned
sound-barrier walls to mitigate noise for neighborhoods near the expressway.
The Project Five contracts have been let for the multiyear reconstruction
project, including:
A $57 million design-build contract to Goshen,
Ind.-based Rieth-Riley for work between Calumet and Cline avenues.
Two
design-build contracts to the joint venture of Gary-based Superior Construction
and Anderson, Ind.-based E&B Paving, including one for $22 million for work
between Grant and Broadway streets and another for $60 million for work from Cline
Avenue to just east of Interstate 65.
Two design-bid-build contracts
of $6 million each to raise bridges overhead.
Moving east from the Illinois
line, the following timeline details the project's schedule and scope of work.
Illinois
state line to Calumet Avenue: 2004: Installed lighting and Intelligent Transportation
Systems and completed preparatory work.
2006: Rebuild outside retaining
walls; reconstruct the roadway mainline - adding a fourth lane in each direction
and reinstalling sound barrier walls.
Calumet Avenue
to Cline Avenue - Rieth-Riley Construction: 2003-2004: Removed and replaced
all pavement; added fourth lane and collector-distributor lanes in each direction;
completed minor reconfiguration of Indianapolis Boulevard and Kennedy Avenue interchanges;
reconstructed four bridges over the Borman; reconditioned sound barrier walls.
Cline
Avenue to east of Georgia Street - Superior Construction/E&B Paving joint
venture: 2004-2005: Remove and replace all pavement; add a fourth lane and
collector-distributor lanes in each direction; replace bridges on Grant Street,
Broadway and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive; reconstruct interchanges at Burr Street,
Grant Street and Broadway.
Georgia Street to Clay Street: This
$130 million portion of the reconstruction will be a traditional design-bid-build
contract and will include the following:
2007: Rebuild the north side of
the I-65 interchange.
2008: Rebuild the south side of the I-65 interchange
and reconstruct the northwest connector ramps, from I-65 northbound to the Borman
Expressway westbound.
2009: Replace the existing highway pavement; add
a new fourth lane; replace the bridge on Colorado Avenue over the Borman.
Design-Build
Perks The undersized Borman was becoming a maintenance-intensive stretch.
"There
were huge user costs of up to $50 million every year in delays to the public and
maintenance costs," said Greg Kicinski, Indiana Department of Transportation
design-build project manager.
Kicinski added that the construction costs
are about the same as traditional design-bid-build, but the real savings comes
by shaving two years off the delivery date, which means INDOT doesn't have to
shell out $100 million in user costs.
"A couple years' advantage is
a big reason for going with design-build," he added.
Including the contracts
for the Borman reconstruction, INDOT has done 14 projects with the design-build
method. Keeping Traffic Moving One of the
first endeavors was creating right-of-way lanes to keep traffic flowing. Kiciniski
said that the waterlogged soil conditions of the area's peat bogs involved massive
excavation, just like they did 50 years ago.
"We had to dig down 15
ft. for the right-of-way," he added. "We dug everything out last year
and through the winter to be on schedule."
Keeping three lanes in
each direction open throughout the project, was a "No. 1 priority because
this is a vital national corridor and there's not any good alternative routes,"
Kicinski said.
To keep traffic moving and maintain temporary drainage during
construction, temporary asphalt was installed on the north side of the Borman
for the full length of the project, allowing the road to be constructed a half
at a time, said Dan Sopczak, project manager for Superior Construction.
An
unavoidable inconvenience for Borman neighbors was the removal of noise barriers,
which need to be relocated because the road will be wider. "The barriers
were the first thing we had to take down and will be the last things to be put
back up," Kicinski said.
Another preliminary task was installing wick
drains every 3 ft. for drainage. An issue arose in putting the wick drains under
a traffic-carrying bridge.
"There was not enough clearance under the
bridge to install the wick drains, so the drainage and ground improvement subcontractor
modified its equipment," said Chris Reynolds, chief engineer for Rieth-Riley
Construction.
"We were working 10 ft. into the ground to install
the wick drains about another 40 ft. deep. The combination of modifying the equipment
and overexcavating allowed us to get the wick drains in. It was an unusual thing
and took some innovation."
Reynolds said that on his 3-mi. portion
of the project, about 100,000 cu. yds. of excess material from ripping out the
old highway was processed and put back onsite for the embankments.
To
eliminate poor settlement, 50,000 cu. yds. of lightweight material were brought
in to fill low areas. Rieth-Riley poured about 150,000 cu. yds. of concrete, averaging
2,000 cu. yds. per day.
On the 4.5-mi. stretch of the highway being reconstructed
by the Superior Construction/E&B Paving joint venture, approximately 300,000
cu. yds. of unsuitable material was removed and replaced with lightweight fill.
A
large portion of the 100,000 cu. yds. of fill material was reclaimed onsite. Existing
concrete pavement was removed, processed and used as fill, and the existing sand
subgrade in cut areas was moved to the fill areas.
The joint venture is
implementing a relatively new technique of using global positioning machine control
for its dozers, graders and backhoes.
Safety Measures
Workplace safety on the Borman with its enormous truck traffic is always
important.
Some safety measures include installing box trusses with overhead
signs to give notice of lanes shifts.
"We went to extremes to give
traffic good directions through this project," Reynolds said. "Signs
were put all over the state and in Illinois on highways where traffic might be
coming from."
Also, by maintaining three lanes of traffic in each
direction, "traffic has flowed really well," Reynolds said.
Motorists
can register for free e-mail messages with updates about upcoming lane restrictions
and ramp closures. They also can dial 877-HWY-WORK (877-499-9675) for daily construction
updates. | 
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