22/renew Honored as Nation's Top "Quality"
Highway Project
By Matthew McTish, P.E., McTish, Kunkel & Associates
Pennsylvania's "22/renew" Expressway Improvement
Project in Lehigh and Northampton Counties has earned the 2001
National Achievement Award from the National Partnership for
Highway Quality (NPHQ), which recognized the project for its
design, teamwork, public information campaign, and innovative
construction scheduling.
Partners in the project-who share award recognition-include
the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, Designer: McTish,
Kunkel & Associates in Allentown, PA, and Contractor: Lane
Construction Corporation in Meriden, CT.
NPHQ includes federal and state highway officials and leaders
in the highway construction industry. The National Award nomination
process permits one entry from each state. In 2001, 26 states
submitted a project for the award.
The $70 million 22/renew Project restored an eight-mile section
of four-lane, limited-access urban expressway, including reconstruction
and rehabilitation of the original (1954) concrete pavement,
replacement of three bridges, rehabilitation of ten bridges,
reconstruction of five interchanges and deployment of state-of-the-art
Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) components, including
Ramp Metering, Variable Message Signs, and Highway Advisory
Radio.
Innovative construction scheduling and traffic management strategies
developed by PENNDOT District 5-0 and McTish, Kunkel & Associates
greatly reduced the project's impact on the region. These strategies
included maintaining four traffic lanes through the work zone
during peak traffic periods, compression of the construction
schedule from three years to two years, and deployment of a
"real?time" traffic control and motorist advisory
system.
Through the planning and construction phases, a Citizens Advisory
Committee was used to assess the needs of the local driving
public and to create partnerships for sharing information with
the community. Aggressive use of a public information and public
involvement campaign featuring a project-specific Web site,
newsletters, and more than 180,000 copies of a "22/renew
Survival Guide" helped area businesses, schools, hospitals,
and US 22 motorists negotiate the construction work zone. Incentive/disincentive
contract provisions encouraged Lane Construction to finish 65
days ahead of the schedule for all work involving travel lane
closures, earning Lane a $5 million bonus. Lane also earned
a $107,000 bonus for producing a paved surface exceeding state
and national standards for smoothness.
PENNDOT and McTish, Kunkel's Incident Management and Public
Information programs for the 22/renew Project have been used
as models for safe expressway reconstruction across the United
States. In addition to receiving the Pennsylvania Partnership
for Highway Quality (PPHQ) Award for Highest Quality Project
Statewide and PPHQ awards for Congestion Management and Intelligent
Transportation Systems, the 22/renew Public Information Campaign
received the AASHTO Excel Awards for Best Public Information
Campaign and Best Project Website. The project also has received
the Honor Award for Engineering Excellence in Transportation
from the Consulting Engineers Council of Pennsylvania and the
ACPA National Award for Excellence in Concrete Pavement.
To receive more information about the 22/renew Project, please
contact Matthew McTish, P.E., at 610-791-2700 or mpmctish@mctish.com.
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