Two construction projects worth $87 million continue on I-8
EL CENTRO – A pair of highway construction on Interstate 8 worth more than $87 million are continuing apace, with motorists experiencing detours and potential delays as they progress.
The first project is located along a five-mile stretch of I-8 near Highway 111. The second project is located along a 10-mile stretch of I-8 about 15 miles east of El Centro.
The contractor for the first project is Security Paving Company, Inc. The contract is $83,169,600. The work started in July 2017.
For that project, new pavement has already been poured over the five-mile stretch of I-8, with finishing touches including restriping of lanes expected to be completed, and the segment reopened to motorists, by the end of September, according to Ed Joyce, Caltrans public information officer.
“One lane eastbound and westbound were opened about two weeks ago,” Joyce told Imperial Valley Press on Friday. “Restriping and other work remains to be completed near El Centro from half a mile west of the Route 8/111 separation to [about a half] mile west of Anderholt Road Overcrossing, and from a half mile east of the East Highline Canal Bridge” less than half a mile down the road.
The contractor for the second project is Coffman Specialties, Inc. The contract is $45,063,400. The work started in June 2017 and is expected to be completed by the end of the summer in 2019, Joyce said.
Westbound vehicle traffic along this route has been diverted temporarily onto the adjacent frontage road, with the speed reduced to 60 mph in this area.
The new sections are designed to last almost three-quarters of a century, Joyce said.
“The two pavement projects are using continuously reinforced concrete pavement, which is expected to last 70 years with minimum maintenance,” he said.
CRCP is built in several steps, according to the Federal Highway Administration.
Before concrete is poured, a series of steel reinforcing bars are laid by hand in the direction that traffic will flow. There are many rows of the steel rebar placed at uniform lengths from each other with the use of spacers. Before concrete is poured, the steel rebar looks similar to a vertical lattice.
Steel bars generally are made in standard 60-feet-lengths, and must be lap-spliced.
A lap-splice is when two pieces of rebar are overlapped to create a continuous line of rebar.
The tightly spaced rebar prevent cracks that inevitably form in the concrete from meandering all over the roadway.
Instead, they are relatively straight along the width of the roadway. This helps maintain high levels of load transfer from vehicles passing across them.
When concrete is poured, it must be done at a steady rate using a uniform concrete mixture. The more uniform the mixture, the more uniform the crack pattern that will develop over time and the better the CRCP performance over its lifetime.
Concrete is deposited from a truck or a mixer into a hopper, and the hopper is then elevated to place the concrete on a conveyor belt. The conveyor, which spans the width of the roadway, drops the concrete in front of a paving machine which spreads it out uniformly. This process generally is performed during night time hours in the summer because it must be under 90 degrees to cure properly.
CRCP was first constructed in California in 1949 along a one mile segment. That section was still in operation more than 60-years later, according to the Federal Highway Administration.
The two projects currently underway are the latest in a larger multi-tiered project along I-8 in Imperial County that will extend the life expectancy of the pavement from Highway 111 to the Arizona border, and provide motorists with a smoother ride, according to Caltrans. The overall project was initiated in 2016.
The project is divided into five segments for a total of 48 miles, and has a combined cost of $417.7 million. Two of three segments that began in 2016 were finished in 2017, with the third slated for completion this year. The remaining two segments are scheduled for completion by 2019.
Funding for the program is provided by the State Highway Operation and Protection Program.
A portion of I-8 in eastern Imperial County was not included in this project because it will not require such improvements for several more years, according to Caltrans.
For an up to date list of planned lane closures along I-8 in Imperial County, visit https://lcswebreports.dot.ca.gov/ SearchDistrictsPreAction.do?district=11