Arkansas Team Earns National Highway
Quality Award
Extensive I-40 Work Praised for Accelerated Construction,
Safety, Quality
Austin, TX/September 14, 2005 —The National Partnership for Highway
Quality (NPHQ) today announced that its 2005 State Award will go to the Arkansas
State Highway and Transportation Department (AHTD) and general contractor Gilbert
Central Corporation for their rehabilitation of 11.1 miles of I-40 in central
Arkansas, praising the team's “mastery of daunting challenges to provide a
finished roadway of exceptional smoothness, safety, and appearance.”
Announcing the award was Bob Templeton, executive director of NPHQ, a partnership
among federal, state, and roadway industry leaders and officials whose shared
advocacy of “customer-centered” practices has produced better, safer, more
user-friendly roads and bridges that are completed faster, last longer, and
minimize congestion and inconvenience.
According to Templeton, “Due to the team's aggressive scheduling and the commitment
of all contractor and Department personnel, this project was completed in a
very timely manner while achieving an extremely high level of quality,” adding
that the final 234 days of “Site Use time” were well below other bids for the
contract.
The extensive work plans, calling for rubblizing and overlaying the existing
roadway, reconstructing two mainlane bridges, and updating all safety devices
to meet current crash test requirements, faced their share of problems. The
long section of I-40 was located, for example, in a heavily traveled suburban
area with a large concentration of morning and afternoon rush hour commuters,
and the contract mandated all lanes be kept open to traffic during peak hours—thus
limiting the contractor to off-peak hours and weekends.
The solution: Using two hot mix asphalt plants to allow two crews to pave
simultaneously, taking maximum advantage of every open minute. And the timely
completion, drawing as it did on stakeholder support, was complemented with
work of such high quality that it soon was recognized by the AHTD's own awards
program and that of the Arkansas Asphalt Pavement Association, as well as through
incentives earned by the contractor for early completion, the quality of the
asphalt mix, and the smoothness of the road.
Templeton said, “We're joining with our peers in recognizing an exceptional
product, exceptionally done—another national example of quality, value engineering,
and consumer focus."
NPHQ is composed of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the American Association
of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), the Texas Transportation
Institute, the Foundation for Pavement Preservation, the National Institute for
Certification in Engineering Technologies, the American Highway Users Alliance,
The Associated General Contractors of America, the National Ready Mixed Concrete
Association, Kiewit Corporation, and the URS Corporation.
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