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The Unofficial |
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The Unofficial |
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The project between Mars Hill and US 19 is complete. All the signs,
paint striping, fencing and paving has been finished and traffic is now
using the road. Except for an inch of pavement that will be added on the
northbound lanes south of US 19 on the paving project, everything is completed.
A-10C
The project between US 19 and Laurel Creek Road is now complete. All the grading has been finished and the contractor (Gilbert-Southern) has left the project site. Any remaining construction involving hydraulic pipes or final grading will be handled by the paving contractor (APAC of Asheville).
The total amount of unclassified excavation removed on this project is 24,607,843 cubic yards. This includes both soil and rock removal. This total is nearly 2 million cubic yards higher than the original estimate, but additions such as the welcome center and widening through the big cuts for six lanes added to that total.
The total undercut excavation amount is 1,960,000 cubic yards, about half a million cubic yards less than the estimate.
The total for erosion control stone is 44,000 tons, much higher than the original estimated amount. The contractor had to rebuild many of the erosion control devices several times during the life of the project, and others were added during construction as well.
Presplitting ended up at 128,790 square yards, close to the expected amount. Presplitting is the forming of the steep and smooth rock slopes in the big cuts, which requires a specific operation to prevent shattering the rock remaining.
Over 1,300,000 square yards of erosion control matting has been used on this project, a increase over the estimated amount by more than 36 times (estimated amount of 36,000 sy). The reason for the enormous overrun is simple; every soil slope has had erosion control matting placed on it when it was completed to hold it in place, and the initial estimate did not provide for this use. Although this quantity has been massively overrun, it is well worth it since the slopes have not shown much erosion if at all, and the erosion control matting helps give the new grass a stable place to get started growing.
The contractor has finished installing masonry drainage structures (the drop inlets and catch basins along the ditches). 300 of the 384 proposed structures were built on the grading project. Several of them have had to be installed multiple times due to building them at the wrong elevation and when they were damaged by vehicles driving over them. The remaining ones will be built by the paving contractor.
The concrete planters along the project are now completed. These planters are in front of the rock fence, so knowing how much of these have been built gives you an indication of how much fence has been installed as well. The final quantity is right at 6200 feet. The rock fence has also been installed on top of the planters.
Gilbert-Southern placed over 200,000 tons of aggregate on top of the graded soil to act as the first layer for the pavement. It was added on the grading contract to create a solid surface for the paving contractor and allow easier access to the whole project.
A-10D
The project from Laurel Creek Road to the Tennessee State line is completed. The total amount of excavation came to 9,125,780 cubic yards on this project. A total of 1,179,156 cubic yards of undercut was also removed, which was fairly close to the amount estimated. The presplitting quantity has increased to 24,017 square yards, which was also close to the amount estimated.
A total of 118 drainage boxes were constructed, and 1007 linear feet of concrete planter and barrier, 9,186 tons of erosion control stone and 279,807 square yards of erosion control matting were used to build this project.
The Laurel Creek Bridge is complete, and has been since October. A total of 9,659 cubic yards of concrete went into the building of this large bridge, which is the highest highway bridge in North Carolina at 220'. The concrete was used to build the drilled piers, stems, approach slabs, deck, median barrier and railings. The access ladders within the hollow columns are being installed, and the de-icing system has been completed.
A-10CA
This project will involve the construction of the welcome center, the concrete pavement for the through lanes, asphalt shoulders, concrete median barrier, guardrail, signing and the rest of the details that go into finishing a highway project. The entire length from south of US 19 to the Tennessee State Line at Sams' Gap will be paved under this one project, and will involve over 380,000 square yards of concrete, hundreds of thousands of tons of asphalt, over 50,000 feet of guardrail, and 84,000 cubic yards of earth material for shoulder construction, final grading and connecting to the freeway already in operation at the Tennessee State Line. A parking lot for the hikers using the Appalachian Trail will be built on US 23 at the state line as well.
All the concrete pavement has been poured, and nearly all the median pavement and concrete barrier has been completed as well. The ramps are paved except for the final layer, leaving the paved outside shoulders and some ramp approaches to be completed this spring. Guardrail, sign supports and installation, paint striping and reflectors will all be done this spring as well, or as soon as the weather permits.
As of February 1, 2003, over 380,000 square yards of concrete pavement have been poured. Over 87,000 tons of asphalt base (which goes under the concrete pavement) has been paved, and nearly 26,000 tons of intermediate asphalt as well. The intermediate pavement is used in both the Welcome Center and the median pavement. Over 7,500 tons of surface asphalt pavement has been poured as well, but this will increase once Spring arrives and the final layers are put down. The contract includes 34,000 linear feet of shoulder berm gutter, with over 4900 linear feet of it already constructed. Over 6,200 linear feet of curb and gutter has been poured in the Welcome Center as well, with just a little left at the scenic overlook and Appalachian Trail parking lot. The Welcome Center building itself has been completed and inspected, leaving only some of the utilities left to be connected. Huge boulders have been moved into place throughout the Welcome Center for decorative purposes, and to prevent trucks from running over the islands and curbs. The landscaping contract for the Welcome Center and the rest of the project is underway, with shrubs and trees being planted throughout the project. Flowerbeds and seedings will be planted later in the Spring. The opening date has not been precisely set just yet, but the entire contract should be completed by July 2, 2003. Traffic should be allowed onto the route before that, however, due to traffic phasing requirements up at Sams' Gap.
Previous Project Updates:
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