Construction

ACTT Workshop: Oregon
Paving The Way

[Archived] Chapter 3: Skill Set Recommendations

3.1. Construction

The construction skill set made the following recommendations:

• Develop concurrent environmental process and design for the reconstruction and the rehabilitation alternatives.
  • Develop grind/inlay rehabilitation as a contingency design.
  • Prepare an absolute-minimum rehabilitation design (throw-away).
  • Be prepared: if pavement deterioration accelerates, reconstruction becomes a priority, and the rebuild process will be underway.
  • Have reconstruction PS&E ready by 2009 - funds are programmed for the 2009 STIP.
• Prepare for reconstruction and modernization at the earliest possible time.
  • Lower pavement grade for minimum requirements.
  • Add six-inch clearance for future overlays.
  • Determine the minimum vertical clearance.
  • Consider closing some bridges and ramps (do a traffic study).
  • Identify capacity improvements corridor-wide and at critical choke points.
• Construct with full closures of some type.
  • Consider closure by quadrants or halves.
  • Keep both directions of U.S. 26 open to and from I-5.
  • Provide interim milestones with incentives.
  • Ensure that the schedule for closures fits the construction seasons.
• Prepare for utilities and subsurface work.
  • Do a thorough study of subsurface utilities and substructure.
  • Relocate utilities prior to construction.
  • Replace/rehabilitate inlets and pipe trunk lines using trenchless technology where feasible.
  • Add water quality and/or detention as required.
  • Replace/rehabilitate ODOT-owned illumination systems.
  • Identify hazardous materials areas (contaminated soil, asbestos piping, etc.).
• Use innovative scheduling and partnering.
  • Change ODOT scheduling specifications to require more frequent updating.
  • Require an on-call partnering facilitator.
  • Advance contract award in time for six-month planning, mobilization, partnering and off-site work. Include a pay item.
  • Require a central field location with owner and contractor.
  • Consider escrow bid documents.
  • Consider dispute resolution board.
  • Consider strengthening claim certification specifications.
• Address time to construct loop.
  • Get the project on the street quicker.
  • Provide longer time to design and contract.
• Make safety a priority.
  • Prepare an incident response plan: it is critical.
  • Increase safety by separating traffic from workers (positive staging barriers) or by closing the roadway.
• Consider innovative construction materials.
  • Thin white topping.
  • Rubblized rolling operation.
  • Pre-cast panels for new bridge construction.
  • Recycled concrete.
  • High-early strength concrete (include in performance specifications).

3.2. Innovative Contracting

The innovative contracting team made the following procurement recommendations:

• If the contract is greater than $50 million, use D-B.
• For a $25-$50 million project:
  • Consider design-bid-build (D-B-B) with alternative technical concepts (ATC) and best value.
  • Consider construction manager (CM) at risk.
  • Consider a standard unit price contract with performance specification for maintenance of traffic.
• If the project is less than $25 million, consider D-B-B.

They went on to discuss each option in more detail.

Design-bid-build with ATC and Best Value

• Concept is similar to value engineering (VE).
• It occurs during pre-bid process.
• Concepts are held confidential.

CM at Risk

• ODOT selects the designer.
• It requires early contractor involvement.
• ODOT selects the CM based on qualifications.
• The selected CM works with the ODOT designer to complete design.
• There should be a fixed price/best value or a contractor-proposed guaranteed maximum price, or GMP.

Standard Unit Price Contract with Performance Specification for Maintenance of Traffic

• Contractor can bid at 80 percent design with estimated quantities.
• ODOT awards a unit price contract with adjustable quantities.
• ODOT provides an allowance for the designer to complete the last 20 percent.
• The contractor would be allowed to modify design at his own cost.

Conclusions

The innovative contracting skill set recommended that, regardless of the procurement mechanism selected, ODOT consider A-plus-B contracting and the use of incentives and disincentives.

3.3. Traffic/ITS/Safety

The Traffic/ITS/Safety skill set began by focusing on questions regarding the project scope:

• Structure management.
• Pavement condition.
• Access management (ramps).
• Operational deficiencies/safety.
• End product.
• Operational goals.

With a grasp on those issues, the team discussed traffic control plan strategies, making the following recommendations.

• Consider closures (off-peak, full, directional, segmented, weekend).
• Use incentives and disincentives.
• Consider selected ramp enhancements.
• Use ITS (traveler information, incident management, arterial integration, etc.).
• Promote the use of alternative routes (local and regional).
• Make coordination with the public and stakeholders a priority.
• Study origin/destination patterns.
• Accommodate the different types of vehicles traveling the corridor.

3.4. Public Relations

The public relations team detailed an identify/inform/involve concept to meet the project's public involvement needs. A key component of that effort will be developing a master communications and public involvement plan.

Identify

• Identify communications and public involvement toolbox.

Inform

• Inventory external and internal customers affected by the project.

Involve

• Use activities and techniques designed to engage both external and internal customers in the project.
• Refer to public relations as "public information and involvement."
• Start now on the communications and public involvement plan.

3.5. Structures/Geotechnical

The structures/geotechnical skill set identified the following issues with, and solutions for, the I-405 pavement preservation project:

Issues

• Bridges.
  • Most have 30 to 40 years of service life remaining.
  • Most, if not all, are not up to current design standards.
• Vertical clearance.
  • Most bridges have sub-standard vertical clearance.
• Light rail and utilities.

Solutions

• Lower I-405.
• Raise or thin bridges.
• Limit clearance to 15 feet (per AASHTO guidelines).
• Temporarily close the bridges during construction.
• Provide access management by eliminating ramps and bridges.
• Use prefabricated elements.
• Use rapid construction techniques.
• Consider an elevated viaduct.
• Consider capping I-405.

3.6. Right-of-Way/Utilities/Rail

The right-of-way/utilities/rail group made the following recommendations:

• Focus on partnership and communication with the city of Portland, utility companies, neighborhoods, etc.
• Assess the limited ROW situation due to historic buildings and high-value real estate (narrow corridor).
• Seek clarity on storm-water quantity and quality issues: the solutions will affect ROW requirements.
• Collect high-quality utility information, including field-reconnaissance data.
• Increase survey limits to capture side street or downstream impacts.
• Seek early consensus on light rail design and operations constraints.
• Require early final design decisions.
• Add capacity with an I-5/I-405 couplet or a vertically separated structure to stay in existing ROW.

3.7. Environmental/Context-Sensitive Design

The environmental/context-sensitive design skill set focused on two key issues:

• Understand all elements of the problem.
  • The age and condition of the pavement.
  • The age and condition of all structures.
  • Loop study findings (for I-5 and I-405).
  • The needs and patterns of regional and local users.
  • Historic resources.
  • Neighborhoods and connectivity issues.
  • Business interests.
  • Utilities.
  • Light rail and transit.
  • Storm water.
  • Noise.
• Use a CSS approach.
  • Develop a master plan for engaging stakeholders.
  • Ensure pavement longevity without precluding the master plan.
  • Accommodate the region's mobility objectives.
  • Incorporate opportunities for community livability.

3.8. Pavements/Materials

The pavement/materials group provided some general insights before discussing specific recommendations:

• There are short-term and long-term pavement deficiencies. Complete replacement is inevitable.
• The options for addressing short-term safety and rutting concerns include overlays, diamond grinds with or without an inlay, major rehabilitation, etc.
• The only long-term solution is a complete rehabilitation for the mainline and ramps.
• The skill set's goal is to correct vertical and other geometrical deficiencies where practical. How critical is it to meet the vertical clearance requirements?

Assumptions

• Short-term fixes do not address the structural integrity of the section, nor do they extend the pavement life.
• Vertical clearance issues prohibit the addition of pavement thickness to extend the corridor's pavement life.
• Five to 10 years is the best-case scenario for remaining service life.
• ODOT will see maintenance needs increase during the next five to 10 years; they can expect repeated patching, increasing rut depth and an increase in work zones due to the frequency of repairs.
• The accident history provided at the workshop does not indicate that the pavement is a significant safety problem.

Short-term Fixes

To address potential safety concerns:

• Use diamond grinding to reduce the depth of ruts and provide texture.
• Do a thin overlay (one-inch stone matrix asphalt, or SMA). The group is assuming that a one-inch reduction in vertical clearance would be acceptable.

Recommendation for structural concerns:

• Do nothing except maintenance repairs. This will provide continued service but decreased ride quality.
  • Increase monitoring of pavement distress.

Long-term Fixes

• Provide a complete rehabilitation (pavement replacement and lower finish grade).
  • For 16-foot clearance, minor adjustments of grade are required.
  • For 17-foot clearance, will need significant grade changes (and more dollars).
• Include a renewable surface in the design.
  • Add additional thickness that could be ground off.
  • Provide a sacrificial surface.
• Address storm-water management needs that rehabilitation will likely trigger.
• Strive for increased wear resistance.
  • Silica fume concrete.
  • Polymer asphalt.
  • SMA.
  • Premium aggregate.
• Consider long-term creative construction warrantees.
  • Performance characteristics.
• Base design on best practices and life-cycle costs.