Interstate 85 Bypass

Blythe, Barnhill Complete Section of Emerging Greensboro Urban Loop

Blythe Development and Barnhill Contracting overcame serious schedule hurdles to complete each of their $55 million contracts for the new Interstate 85 Bypass in North Carolina. The two contracts collectively represent an important step in the construction of the 40-mi. Greensboro Urban Loop.

By Scott Judy

Blythe Development of Charlotte and Barnhill Contracting of Tarboro, N.C., recently completed a pair of $55 million contracts for a 15-kilometer section of the new Interstate 85 Bypass in Greensboro, N.C.

The late February opening of the new stretch of highway was an important development in the progressing 40-mi. Greensboro Urban Loop project.

The newly opened bypass should make the existing I-85 safer. It will take an estimated 40,000 to 50,000 vehicles - including a lot of trucks - away from the "Death Valley" area where I-85 merges with Interstate 40.

"I've already seen how it's relieved the congestion through the old section," said Chris Kirkman, resident construction engineer with the North Carolina Department of Transportation. "It's amazing just to see the truck volume. There are a lot of trucks out there now."

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The existing I-85 was handling about 120,000 vehicles each day, he said.
Brad Wall, division construction engineer with NCDOT, said the opening was a bit early and definitely appreciated.

And Kirkman added, "Both contractors did exceptionally well to get this section complete and open by February."

Getting to opening day was an arduous journey for the contractors, though, with both experiencing a significant schedule compression due to added work and unusually wet conditions that hit during the paving stages.

"It was something tough," said Drew Johnson, vice president for Barnhill Contracting's highway division.

Some Unusual Situations

The contracts featured mainline concrete pavements, a fairly unique situation for the asphalt-dominated North Carolina highway market. The majority of the two projects was built eight lanes wide, though a portion of Barnhill's contract was six lanes. The new road runs around the southern edge of Greensboro, from an I-85 interchange on the east side of town back to I-85 on the southwest side of the city.

Across both projects, mainline pavement thickness varied somewhat between 250 and 330 millimeters, or about 13 in. This concrete rests on top of a 4- to 5-in. layer of asphalt, which in turns sits atop a 7- to 8-in.-thick subgrade stabilized with either cement or lime. Shoulders were a combination of asphalt and dirt.

Work for both sections started in 1999, with completion dates scheduled for roughly mid-2004. Blythe's 7.8-kilometer-long contract - for the west end of the bypass as it connects into existing I-85 - started first.

Following close behind was Barnhill's 7.4-kilometer project, which extends from west of Elm-Eugene Street to northeast of Wylie-Lewis Road, essentially spanning between Blythe's job and another 2-mi. section of the bypass completed in May 2002.

Both projects included roughly 10 bridges.

In all, there was a total of approximately 500,000 sq. meters of concrete pavement for the two projects, along with the approximately 15 kilometers of inside and outside asphalt shoulders. Unfortunately for such paving-intensive projects, Mother Nature threw the contractors a curve with an exceptionally wet 2003 - right on time for all of the paving work.

As the contractors were falling behind schedule - some estimated it rained about four days a week through September - NCDOT added work items, such as two additional lanes for the length of Blythe's contract and some more ramps on Barnhill's job.

Because of the rain delays NCDOT owed both contractors sizable extensions of time, said Patrick Smith, regional manager for the Southern division of McCarthy Improvement Co., the concrete paver for both projects.

Blythe's contract had started earlier than Barnhill's, and so it was considerably closer to completion. However, to open up the entire section at once, Barnhill's middle section needed to be accelerated.

"Barnhill's project had a lot later completion date," said Kirkman, estimating the revised schedule to be June. To expedite the work, NCDOT offered a financial incentive to Barnhill to get its section completed earlier. Johnson, the firm's VP, said it mostly involved added manpower and equipment.

"We put in about five grader crews and four asphalt-paving crews," he added. "We worked some day and some night, and pushed it hard. We probably got a year-and-a-half's worth of work done in about six-and-a-half months."

Johnson credited superintendent Rollin Moye, assistant superintendent Larry Cliborne and the crews involved. "They were there sometimes seven days a week to make sure this happened," Johnson added. "I commend them a whole lot."

While the contractor wasn't able to fully meet the accelerated schedule, it came close.

"They didn't achieve the date that was in the agreement," Kirkman said. "But they were able to put the resources on the project and ultimately we got it open earlier because of this acceleration."

The Concrete

Perhaps even more unusually, the projects were an example of a nearly bygone era - the highway project built in virgin area, with no traffic concerns. That helped McCarthy Improvement speed its concrete-paving work at crunch time and ultimately succeed at keeping three separate masters - Blythe, Barnhill and NCDOT - satisfied during a stressful situation.

Going in, the plan was more relaxed.

"We were going to run like a little train, where we'd have one job pretty close to completing and then we'd just kind of roll into the next one," McCarthy Improvement's Smith said.

It didn't work out that way. Instead, "Basically we were jumping back and forth between the two projects," Smith added. "What should have been a reasonable paving sequence and season basically was compressed. Everything was forced into a smaller window."

McCarthy couldn't simply add crews or equipment, either, as every other contractor in the area the firm was working for was in the same position.

"We were running a little thin last year because every one of the contractors experienced delays," Smith said. "We didn't have the luxury of additional crews."

Even so, McCarthy came through. On its best days the concrete paver placed slightly more than 3,000 cu. yds. of pavement. The company used a Gomaco 3500 paver and Rex placer/spreader to pave two lanes wide most of the time.

"It was pretty straightforward paving," Smith said. "With the new construction, we didn't have to deal with traffic. That aspect of it was fairly decent."

But speed wasn't everything. NCDOT was focused on the new road's rideability. The agency had experienced problems with other recent concrete pavements and wanted to make sure that didn't happen here. Ultimately, McCarthy was able to meet the state's rideability specs, a fact Smith attributed to the firm's use of a placer/spreader to deliver the concrete to the front of the paver and keep it moving.

"It provided a real nice, smooth ride," Kirkman said. "The rideability was pretty impressive. They didn't have a lot of must-grinds. There were some areas, but over the area that they had to do, it was very impressive."

Despite the project hurdles, Barnhill's Johnson said the project "turned out fairly well."

The Greensboro Urban Loop project is accelerating now, with two $100 million-plus contracts progressing. NCDOT expects the 40-mi. project to complete sometime after 2010.

Project Team:

Owner: North Carolina Department of Transportation
General Contractor: Blythe Development, Charlotte
General Contractor: Barnhill Contracting, Tarboro, N.C.
Concrete Paving Contractor: McCarthy Improvement Co., Greensboro, N.C.