Expressway Opens on Time Despite Obstacles
By Scott A. Lovell, P.E., Senior Project Manager, Parsons
Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglas
On May 23, 2001, after years of frustrating, several mile long
traffic jams on Battlefield Boulevard, the long-awaited improvements
to State Route 168 in Chesapeake, VA, were opened to traffic.
Designed by Parsons Brinckerhoff in Norfolk, VA, the Chesapeake
Expressway is a 10.1-mile long, four-lane divided highway that
includes nine bridges, three interchanges, two at grade intersections,
and a high-tech, eight-lane toll plaza. The project is the final
link of a limited-access highway that connects Interstate 64
to the North Carolina state line. The highway allows vacationers
headed for North Carolina's Outer Banks to reach their destinations
without using Battlefield Boulevard, a two lane local road that
was not intended to carry the heavy volumes of traffic that
had been clogging it on summer weekends for years.
The grand opening ceremony, which was held on the morning of
May 23, was the culmination of efforts by city officials, politicians,
planners, engineers, contractors and dedicated city employees
who persevered through numerous challenges to bring the project
to fruition. These challenges included innovative funding, fast-track
engineering, right-of-way acquisition and possibly the biggest
challenge of all, the construction effort itself. Despite the
intense coordination required among three construction contracts,
delays caused by three hurricanes that occurred early in the
construction effort, and bankruptcy of the contractor responsible
for the largest portion of the project, construction was completed
within the aggressive 24-month schedule. To meet this schedule,
the project had to be broken into three sections. Although these
sections were all part of the same construction effort, each
contained uniquely different elements.
The northern section, built by Maryland-based Driggs Construction
Corporation, is approximately six miles long and includes three
interchanges containing eight bridges. Included in these bridges
is a curved steel flyover with a skew angle that pushed the
limits of conventional bridge construction practices. All but
two of the bridges in this section incorporate mechanically
stabilized earth (MSE) retaining walls into the abutments. These
types of walls have not been used prevalently in the Hampton
Roads region because of problems caused by the compressibility
of the underlying native soils. However, using an innovative
construction sequence developed by the design engineers, the
abutments could be constructed at a significant savings over
conventional types. The sequence involved constructing the walls
with sleeves placed within the reinforced soil backfill to reserve
space for piles to be driven later. By using this sequence,
the MSE walls acted as a surcharge, similar to conventional
abutment construction, that allowed settlement to occur prior
to pile driving.
The Toll Plaza contract, completed by Chesapeake-based Mid-Eastern
Builders, included construction of a 6,700 square foot administration
building, the toll plaza canopy and tollbooths, and 400 feet
of concrete pavement. With its tall steel framework towering
above the canopy roof, the toll plaza gives somewhat of a "space-age"
feel to approaching motorists. This feeling is justified by
the presence of the high-tech electronic toll-collection system
that allows motorists using transponders to pay their tolls
without stopping. Antennas extending above each travel lane
can detect the presence of a transponder within a vehicle traveling
as fast as 100 mph. Computer terminals located within each tollbooth
allow administrators to keep track of the thousands of transactions
occurring in each of the lanes every day. Violation Enforcement
System (VES) cameras located at the end of each toll island
can digitally photograph the license plates of motorists attempting
to pass through the lanes without paying their toll. The miles
of wire needed to connect these systems to the sophisticated
computers in the administration building pass through the reinforced
concrete access tunnel located beneath the roadway.
The southern section of the road, built by Norfolk-based Suburban
Grading and Utilities, is approximately four miles long and
included construction of a new 700-foot long bridge over the
Northwest River. Construction of the bridge and approach roadways
required an impressive earth-moving operation. Organic material,
up to 17 feet thick, had to be removed from the banks of the
river and replaced with acceptable embankment material. As this
material was being placed and compacted, instrumentation was
installed to monitor the amount of settlement experienced by
the underlying native soils. The contractor was not allowed
to drive piles for the new bridge abutments until the settlement
had diminished to acceptable levels. The actual amount of settlement
experienced was very close to the predicted amount, and the
contractor was released to drive piles approximately one month
sooner than expected. Once the word was given, construction
of the bridge and approach roadways was completed quickly. In
fact, the new bridge and approaches were the first portions
of the new roadway to be opened to traffic.
The significant differences between the characters each of
the three sections of the new Chesapeake Expressway made management
of the construction effort a daunting task. Using their in-house
construction inspection staff and construction management team,
along with design consultants, Parsons Brinckerhoff, the City
of Chesapeake was able to pull off the construction of this
long-awaited roadway in near record time. This was despite the
many obstacles that, at times, threatened to derail the project.
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