4 Takeaways from the Edgerton, KS Concrete Paving Projects Presentation

In November, Dan Merkh, Public Works Director for the City of Edgerton, Kansas; David Hamby, PE, City Engineer for Edgerton and Principal of BG Consultants; Joe Chick of Miles Excavating; and myself presented at the Missouri/Kansas Chapter of the American Concrete Paving Association’s Annual Concrete, Pavement, Parking Lot, and Flatwork Seminar. At the event, we provided attendees with strategies from our work together on the Homestead Ln. and 207th St. Improvements, I-35 to Waverly Rd. project. They included:

1. Weather conditions threatened to impact construction progress, so the team came up with an alternative solution. The city’s standard is to use 8-inches of flyash treated subgrade capped with 4-inches of a cement treated base to support 12-inches of concrete pavement. However, the flyash and cement treated base installations were weather dependent. It can’t be too cold or too wet. The team decided to use a geogrid and aggregate base in place of the treated bases. This solution can be installed in most weather conditions and helped keep the project on schedule.
2. Another strategy we used to maintain schedule was to build a precast bridge off-site. The 172-foot long precast arch bridge, including precast headwalls and wingwalls, was delivered to the site and installed in five working days. Prior to that, excavation and construction of the footings was completed in 10 days. This reduced the amount of time working in the channel and the risk of weather impacting construction progress. It also requires less maintenance and upkeep, saving future costs.
3. The team used a proactive approach to keep the project on-time. In order to pave a mile of road in a day, they made sure the supplies and truck drivers were secured ahead of time. They also outlined travel patterns and had the concrete supplier provide a QA representative on-site to monitor the mix coming out of the mixer and onto the pavement.
4. At the presentation, the city also shared why they decided to use concrete pavement for their street standards. It provides a better value for their community, because it requires less maintenance and stretches the city’s dollars.

If you’d like to see the entire presentation, be sure to attend the Missouri/Kansas Chapter of ACPA’s 40th Annual Portland Cement Concrete Paving Conference & Back to the Basics Seminar on February 24, 2020.