The 5.4-mile Interstate 30 project in central Arkansas widens the highway to six lanes from four, a $187-million undertaking that’s part of the 36 projects approved by voters back in 2012.

盐水县项目从国家航线和过去的国家航线67，将盐水河浮雕和盐水河沿在宾顿市中心的Sevier街道立交桥东边，该县位于小岩石以南以南10英里。原始高速公路于1957年建造。

“这个项目的性质很小，但结构很复杂，”埃德特第六座建筑工程师托尼E.埃文斯说。“从一个角度来看，它更像是一个巨大的桥梁工作而不是道路工作。”

通过竞争的竞标进程，阿肯色州交通部于2018年12月5日颁发了南疆·博士·德克萨斯省葡萄树的约翰逊兄弟公司的建设合同。

我扩张项目19的计谋18luck官网nties—approved by voters in November 2012—that comprise the 10-year Connecting Arkansas Program, funded by a half-cent sales tax to improve highways and highway bridges.

“这项工作是拓宽I-30的持续计划的一部分，”埃文斯说。他解释说，从Benton到P18luck官网enton到Little Rock完成了四个用于扩展I-30到六个车道的前一个项目，他解释道。

Workers remove the original two-barrel box culvert under SR 67.
Photo courtesy of Southland Holdings

In the current project, Johnson Bros. will be expanding the roadway; reconstructing three interchanges at SR 67, SR 70 and South Street in Benton; and building 10 bridges. Those include four composite plate girder span unit bridges (1,133 ft total) above state highways 70 and 67; four continuous composite W-beam unit bridges over the Saline River Relief, a backwater off the river; an exit ramp to SR 67 and South Street above I-30 (1,849 ft total); and two plate girder/W beam hybrids bridging the Saline River (2,126 ft total).

Under I-30 and the adjacent frontage roads, the team is also completing two single-barrel culverts, two double-barrel culverts and a particularly challenging 540-ft-long triple-barrel culvert.

最后，一个60,000英尺的屏障墙被放置在中心道路中位数和正面道路和坡道。混凝土巷道将倒在石头基地上。

Work began Feb. 7, 2019, and is expected to be complete Sept. 14, 2022, with incentives and penalties in place to ensure the team meets the target date.

“We’re about 40% complete and tracking a little ahead of schedule despite a number of challenges, especially labor,” says Ben Holt, project manager for Johnson Bros. The COVID-19 virus “has significantly challenged our workforce—every level from labor to machinery operators and superintendents,” he says. “It’s also impacted our subcontractors.” Factors affecting labor include the Centers for Disease Control’s masking, distancing and temperature-taking requirements.

The new triple-barrel box culvert provides more flow for creek water. The crew also installed head and wing walls on both the north and south sides of the culvert.
Photo courtesy of Southland Holdings

Labor, Materials, Triple-Box Culvert

Holt says that adding crews and scheduling five 10-hour shifts has helped the team maintain schedule. “COVID-19 impacts have been diminishing, but we are still experiencing labor shortages at all levels due to the current job market and the fear of infection,” he says.

Prior to the pandemic, the total number of Johnson Bros. workers had peaked at about 140. Post-pandemic, however, the company and its subcontractors have had difficulty recruiting labor, Holt says.

他补充说，一些机构和公司已经远程工作，但这并未在现场拥有它们。“有些关键人物更好，”他说。

The pandemic has also affected materials availability. Steel has been procurable, although at a premium. But precast items such as drainage components have been delayed from the project’s Mississippi manufacturer. Holt notes, “Again, the situation is improving, but the delays in delivery have impacted us.”

Ardot指控约翰逊兄弟队的团队维护东行和西行的连续交通流量。该项目已授权绕道驾驶，并根据需要的庭院建筑或维护等必要和夜间通道弯曲，如修补坑洼。
The requirement to keep I-30 open particularly affected one installation: a triple 11-ft by 6-ft skewed reinforced concrete box culvert extending north and south under the SR 67 interchange. Carrying creek water, the culvert replaces a smaller double-barrel one and comprises three rectangular barrels in one concrete structure to accommodate more flow, Holt says. He explains the triple culvert is “skewed” because it runs diagonally under I-30 rather than perpendicular to it.

One challenge is that it’s a large culvert, Holt says, adding that “because we have had to maintain traffic flow, we have had disconnected stages of removal and construction.”

约翰逊兄弟一直在使用各种类型的重负落来促进所需的深度挖掘，两者都可以拆下双桶钢筋混凝土盒涵洞，并将加强的预制混凝土盒涵洞涵洞新的三筒桶涵洞。

Maintaining adequate flow of the water in the creek during removal and construction is also a major obstacle, Holt says. He notes that these issues “significantly extend the duration of the work by several months form what would be anticipated under less complex circumstances.”

5.4英里的I-30盐水项目从SR 70到Benton的South Street延伸。
Map courtesy of ARDOT

Soil, Storms, Bridges and Mussel Beds

Since the beginning of the project, the team has encountered inconsistent, unstable soil conditions. “We have discovered all types of dirt, clay, shale and sandy gravel that retains a significant amount of water year-round,” Holt says, noting that these conditions were evidently anticipated because cement soil stabilization was set up as a bid item in the contract.

He adds that when the required density and stabilization cannot be attained using conventional methods, ARDOT directs that the area be stabilized by mixing cement into the subgrade.

2019年从6月和飓风克里斯托波尔的2019年过度降雨量在7月份的飓风Barry创造了挑战的工作条件和意外的停机时间，2月2021年2月的冬季风暴带来了20次。降雪到了该项目的降雪，造成了几周的延迟。并随着排水管和结构的安装，必须解决众多的公用事业冲突。

南街交换的东北角的环形交叉路口也正在添加与I-30附近的正面道路连接。

“Roundabouts have been trending in our towns and cities,” Evans says. They provide needed traffic signals and also cut down on T-bone collisions. This one is designed to relieve congestion in the area,” he explains.

As part of a plan to maintain traffic approved by ARDOT, Johnson Bros. also constructed a temporary 120-ft Acrow bridge north of and parallel to the original westbound bridge above SR 67 as well as a temporary roadway for westbound traffic.

一个施用临时桥梁，如右图所示，已经帮助了约翰逊兄弟的团队有效地拆除了旧桥梁，并在维护东行和西行I-30交通的同时建造新的桥梁。
Photo courtesy of Southland Holdings

“临时桥梁,我们可以to demolish and replace the existing I-30 westbound bridge. After we finish rebuilding that bridge, we will reroute eastbound traffic on to that bridge so that we can build the new eastbound bridge,” Holt says. “When both of these are complete, the temporary bridge will come down.”

The temporary bridge also allowed the team to further modify the original traffic plan, which called for a complex staged removal and construction for the westbound I-30 bridge over SR 67 and the westbound and eastbound I-30 bridges over the Saline River Relief.

As suggested by Johnson Bros. and approved by ARDOT, the traffic plan includes a temporary roadway from the Acrow bridge that detours westbound traffic around the immediate construction zone.

This “eliminated the need for staged construction,” Holt says. “Another benefit is that it also reduced the safety hazards of traveling and working in the middle of staged bridge construction zones.”

新西兰盐河桥附近的贻贝床是另一个关注的领域。

“盐水河附近的工作可能具有挑战性，这是由于受保护的贝类而受到环保的区域”，埃文斯解释道。添加Holt，“我们没有必要重新安置任何东西，但我们认识到他们的存在，并将我们的活动远离他们。”