Phase 2 of the Carolinas Bay Parkway

APAC at work on $54 million design-build job for SCDOT

By Debra Wood

Recognizing the immediate need for additional roadway, the South Carolina Department of Transportation is adding a 30-mi. long, limited-access highway to serve the Grand Strand area.

"It's another link in the chain of building an overall impressive and needed project," said Berry Still, program manager with the SCDOT. "There's a lack of infrastructure in the Horry County region. The highway is needed to give relief to the already congested roadways that are out there."

SCDOT awarded APAC Inc. of Atlanta a $54 million design-build contract for the second phase of the Carolina Bays Parkway, a 4.6-mi., six-lane road that skirts the beaches.

"Design-build is not only faster. It allows for more innovation and creativity in the design and construction of highway projects," said Jim McAleer, vice president of major projects for APAC. "The efficiencies are potentially significant."

McAleer said securing the SCDOT contract was important to APAC because the company had recently put together a major projects design-build team.

"We had a couple of losses on projects we pursued in North Carolina, and we did a very thorough critique to determine what we did wrong and what changes we needed to make," he added. "Because [the jobs] require a far amount of creativity, you have to put the best team together very early."

Engineers LPA Group and Wilbur Smith Associates, both of South Carolina, and bridge contractor United Contractors of Chester, S.C., joined APAC in formulating a bid. APAC selected its partners based on their expertise. The firms began working together 1.5 years before SCDOT awarded the project in spring 2003.

"One down side of design-build is there are more up-front costs in pursuing these projects," McAleer said. "For that reason, you have to be selective in which ones you pursue and which you don't. Most of the cost is on the design side because a certain amount of design has to be done so contractors can price the work."

McAleer said some states offer stipends to partially defray the cost, but South Carolina did not. APAC currently has 10 design-build projects under way - eight in Florida, one in Virginia and the Carolina Bays.

SCDOT had already purchased the right-of-way and completed subsurface testing. The design-build team was required to meet certain DOT parameters but had enough leeway to propose several efficiencies.

"We made some alignment changes, minor, but enough to shorten some of the bridges, and we also lowered the grade down through the mainline to save money on earthwork," said Jim Wiley, APAC's project manager. "Design-build allows you to be innovative and come up with solutions that are better than the other participants [who are bidding]. You win the job based on your innovation, not just the lowest price."

APAC began work on the Carolina Bays project in May 2003 and began construction before designs were finalized. It expects to complete construction by Dec. 7. Wiley calls it an aggressive schedule but one he expects to meet.

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The company received additional points on its bid for the speedy schedule. The project was 30 percent complete in February.

The controlled-access road project includes two major interchanges, with highways 501 and 544, and five concrete bridges with metal decks. The bridges range in length from 225 ft. to 350 ft.

The road has a cement-treated aggregate base and an asphalt section topped with an open-graded friction course.

Highway 501 carries significant traffic flow, requiring APAC to perform much of the work at the intersection at night with lane changes. United Contractors is handling bridgework and the mechanically stabilized earth walls.

"We have permanent traffic control in place, and from time to time, we use temporary traffic control to cross up and over," said Bill Hedgpath, construction manager and vice president of United. He estimated that his company will complete about 10 percent of the bridgework at night.

The majority of the road runs through woods and swamp, but a portion is adjacent to the Hunter's Ridge subdivision, and some residents expressed displeasure with building a highway in their back yards. APAC will add a landscaped berm as a buffer.

Construction required extensive earthwork. Subcontractor R.E. Goodson Construction Co. of Darlington, S.C., will move 2.8 million cu. yds. of dirt from highland borrow pits, with rights purchased from private owners, to build up the road site. Goodson also cleared the right-of-way, installed pipe and will plant grass after the road is completed.

"We're doing everything except for the base and asphalt," said James Goodson, project manager for R.E. Goodson. The company expects to wrap up the earth moving by July.

Goodson said phase two of the Carolina Bays Parkway runs down an old ridge and has had little wetland impact. Sections of the entire 30-mi.-long road pass through environmentally sensitive areas and pristine wetlands, so transportation officials purchased the 12,000-acre Sandy Island, a fresh-water coastal island, as a mitigation bank.

"The whole mitigation plan was an elaborate group effort between all the resource agencies, the DOT and local interests," Still said. "It actually won a national award for establishing the bank."

The Sandy Island mitigation won the Federal Conservation Award in 1997. Mitigation was complete before APAC received the contract.

About 150 people are working onsite on the phase two project. There have been no lost-time accidents or environmental issues as of February.

"The quality of the work is really high," Wiley said. "It's a good ole' highway job, and certainly one that will conclude very quickly."

Useful sources:
South Carolina Department of Transportation
http://www.dot.state.sc.us/Projects/CarolinaBays/