A 26-mi. (41.6 km) stretch of highway in central Iowa that links Des Moines to Marshalltown is the site of a top priority highway construction effort.
The affected avenues are IA 330 and US 65, which run concurrent with each other for approximately 4 mi. (6.4 km) just northeast of Des Moines. Then the two highways split; US 65 turns due north while IA 330 continues northeastward toward Marshalltown.
Several traffic deaths along the route during the past year, combined with increasing commuter traffic between these two cities, prompted state transportation officials to place a priority status on widening the lengthy corridor from two to four lanes.
The Iowa Department of Transportation (Iowa DOT) projects that by 2005, the entire route will see an average of 6,000 vehicles per day. By 2025, traffic is projected to average 7,300 vehicles per day, an increase of 18 percent.
Bids for pre-paving construction were secured in early 2001, with bid winners fully aware that given a July 2001 start date, they had just 10 months to build culverts, lay road pipe, grade all surfaces, construct or improve bridges and work around wetland mitigation areas, all in time for paving to begin in May 2002.
The goal is for all 26 mi. (41.6 km) to be open for traffic by December 2002, a start-to-finish time span of just 17 months.
To accomplish this mammoth undertaking, the widening project was divided into two segments, a north and a south, with numerous construction contracts divided between nine construction companies.
Kevin Merryman is the resident construction engineer of Iowa DOT’s Des Moines Construction Residency. Merryman is in charge of the south segment of the project, a stretch of approximately 10 mi. (16 km), which Iowa DOT further separated into two smaller projects.
“Contract periods on this are about half of what they normally are,” Merryman said. “We designed the south two projects in-house. The northern projects were designed in the Marshalltown office with help from a consulting company, Earth Tech.” Earth Tech is based in Waterloo, IA.
Doug McDonald is the resident construction engineer with Iowa DOT’s Marshalltown Construction Residency. McDonald heads up over 15 mi. (24 km) of the project’s north segment.
Before grading could begin, McDonald explained, “We had to do some clearing and grubbing work. There was pretty heavy vegetation in a few areas. There were two demos: an old gas station and a house.”
Thus began a project paid for by state and federal funding to the tune of more than $26 million, which covers bridges, culverts and grading.
The excavation quantity for the north segment is 3,598,400 cu. yd. (2,768,000 cu m). When added to the south segment’s total of 1,937,000 cu. yd. (1,472,120 cu m), this is 5,535,400 cu. yd. (4,240,120 cu m) of earth to be moved in just a few months.
When paving begins in May 2002, contractors will spread 559,200 sq. yd. (459,800 sq m) of concrete across the entire project. Paving is currently scheduled for letting on January 15, 2002.
Thanks to a relatively warm and dry autumn, Merryman and McDonald concurred that after the first week of November 2001, 70 percent of grading work had been completed.
On the south segment, Iowa Bridge & Culvert L.L.C. of Washington, IA, installed four box culverts before grading began, extending existing culverts under the current two-lane road so they would butt up to the new ones. The company put 12 employees on the project.
Said President Dick Sojka, “We started July 16 and finished October 12. It went well, although we had some bad weather in September. It rained four inches in 24 hours and that delayed us a couple days.”
The company used in excess of 878 cu. yd. (675 cu m) of concrete to construct the culverts. It took four semi loads to bring in the 89 tons (80 t) of reinforcing steel needed to complete the job.
Iowa Bridge & Culvert used a 322BL Cat excavator to dig the culverts and a D5B Cat dozer to clear the area. Their 45-ton (40.5 t) American 4260 crane helped put the steel in place and carried the cement bucket for pouring forms.
Not far away, Jensen Construction Co. of Des Moines installed two culverts. Using six to 10 workers per day over a 10-week period, Jensen used a Komatsu 200 excavator, a Komatsu D41 dozer and a 45-ton (40.5 t) American 599 crane. Jensen purchases much of its equipment from Road Machinery & Supply (RMS) in Des Moines.
Jenco Construction put in several more culverts along the project’s north segment.
In all, seven bridges needed to be installed along the corridor. United Contractors of Johnston, IA, is building five bridges throughout both the north and south segments.
On the far north end of the project where IA 330 intersects US 30, Herberger Construction Company of Indianola, IA, is building a bridge that spans US 30. The company also is constructing the seventh bridge two miles south on IA 330.
Herberger has 14 workers on the job and started hauling supplies to each bridge site during the first week of November of 2001. Vice President Curt Brown expects to be done with the job in May 2002.
The south bridge is a slab, with a 2-ft. (.6 m) deck and 65 tons (58.5 t) of reinforcing steel. The north bridge spans four lanes of US 30. The overpass calls for 72.5 tons (62.25 t) of reinforcing steel, with abutments at both ends and one pier in the center.
Piling consists of 10 in. by 45 ft. (25.4 cm by 13.5 m) H-piles at the pier, and 12 in. by 60 ft. (30.5 cm by 18 m) H-piles at the abutments. Herberger uses a 50-ton (45 t) American 5299 crane fitted with a Del-Mag D-19 diesel hammer to drive the piles.
Other equipment employed by Herberger includes an 85-ton (76.5 t) American 7255 crane with a 100 ft. (30 m) boom; a 35-ton (31.5 t) American 4250 crane with a 5,000 lb. (2,250 kg) drop hammer; two Cat 225 backhoes; and a John Deere 450G dozer.
Herberger will rent concrete pumps from Sun Concrete of Des Moines and will apply the finishing touches with a Gomaco C-450 cylinder finisher.
Grading 26 mi. (41.8 km) of highway in less than a year is an enormous task. Five separate companies took on a multitude of grading contracts, including CJ Moyna & Sons Construction Inc. of Elkader, IA; Langman Construction Inc. of Rock Island, IL; McAninch Corporation of Des Moines; Peterson Contractors of Reinbeck, IA; and Reilly Construction of Des Moines.
“We are working this together as a partnership,” said Bob Tometich, project manager of McAninch Corp, referring to an agreement between McAninch Corp., Reilly Construction and Peterson Contractors.
Reilly took on laying the road pipe along almost the entire stretch, with grading contracts on the north end. Peterson and McAninch split duties on the southern end, even filling each other’s dumps at excavation sites.
McAninch got started grading in mid-July of 2001 working with 15 to 20 operators on most days. Thanks in part to great weather, Tometich expects to be finished by the end of November of 2002.
McAninch uses Cat equipment exclusively, running 14G motor graders, D6 and D7 dozers, D400 trucks, D9 pull scrapers and a 375 excavator. With about 15 pieces of equipment working the IA 330 project out of its fleet of 300, McAninch buys its equipment almost exclusively through Ziegler in Des Moines.
Langman Construction is grading a 4-mi. (6.4 km) section at about the middle of the IA 330 corridor and its plans are to complete work in early spring of 2002. Superintendent Chuck Force said Langman’s crew of 31 was 65 to 70 percent done as of mid-November 2001 and is moving 10,400 cu. yd. (8000 cu m) of soil per day.
Langman is responsible for one wetland mitigation site. The crew has excavated around it, borrowing dirt for other areas. “By doing that we’ve made it bigger and actually preserved the wetland,” Force said.
Langman uses Volvo haul units and just purchased three new A40Ds. The crew uses a Case 9060 excavator with a 4-yd. (3 cu m) bucket; Komatsu D61 and D155 dozers; Cat D400 Haul units; a Cat D400E ejector truck; a Cat D5 dozer; John Deere 770DH motor graders and other various pieces of equipment.
Langman buys its equipment at various locations, including Road Machinery & Supply in Des Moines; Martin Equipment in Cedar Rapids; and Spreitzer Inc. of Cedar Rapids.
Elsewhere on the widening project, CJ Moyna & Sons Construction Inc. puts as many as 56 workers on the IA 330 corridor at any given time to keep progress moving along the 12-mi. (19.2 km) segment where they are grading.
Working by the light of day and using light plants at night, owner John Moyna’s goal is to finish by December 10, 2001.
“I believe we have the world’s largest group of ejector trucks working out there right now,” said Moyna. He should know: Moyna’s team invented what is now the Cat D400E ejector truck.
“Every company does that,” Moyna said. “You have something that works well, but you have to tweak it a little to make it do what you want.”
Indeed, Moyna invents enough equipment that he’s launched another company, Eject Systems based in Elkader, IA, where they make two models of offset harrow disks for breaking up chunky soil.
CJ Moyna is moving nearly 1 million cu. yd. (760,000 cu m) of material per month along the IA 330 site, and they’re doing it with a lot of equipment. The company has ten Cat D400E ejector trucks on-site, plus five Cat D400D “tipper” trucks with plastic liners to minimize carry back.
To fill those trucks, CJ Moyna uses three excavators: a 330 Cat, a 370 John Deere and an EX550LC Hitachi. Also in the field are Cat D7G and D6R dozers, a John Deere 750 dozer and four Cat motor graders: a 114, a 163H and two 140Gs.
CJ Moyna also employs two compactors at the site: a Cat 563 and a John Deere 4555.
Several of the contractors now working the grading contracts plan to enter bids for paving in 2002. Prices aside, they are all proving equal to the task of this project’s accelerated deadline.
