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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 paveing project, everything is completed.
A-10C
As of mid-July 2001, over 24,608,000 cubic yards of material has been removed on this project. Very little excavation is left to be done. Most of the work is now consisting of embankment construction in the Welcome Center.
The undercut quantity appears to be completed now. The contractor was paid for removing 1,900,000 cubic yards of undercut, which was about 500,000 cubic yards less than we had estimated.
The amount of 43,900 tons of erosion control stone has not changed from the April update. Recent heavy rainfall, however, has resulted in severe damage to the erosion control devices along the project, so this quantity will probably increase soon.
The presplitting quantity (the creation of smooth finished planes in solid rock by blasting) is now up to over 128,800 square yards. The cuts requiring presplitting are now complete, so this should be the final amount on the project. 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 begun installing masonry drainage structures (the drop inlets and catch basins along the ditches). So far he has installed 208 out of the 384 on the 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 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. The contractor, once he completes the grading in an area, will cover the entire surface with 12" of aggregate base course. This ABC will become the lowest course of material for the pavement when it constructed. So far he has placed 200,000 tons onto the project.
All the big cuts are now completed and the planters have been built. About the only grading left on the project is in the interchange and in the Welcome Center area. Bear Branch Road has been completed and is open to traffic. The scenic overlook has been graded as has both escape ramps. The rock buttresses and rock embankments have all been covered with soil and planted with grass. They will eventually be planted with trees so that eventually they will match the surrounding forests. Work has begun on the animal crossing (an 8'x8' concrete culvert) located south of the Welcome Center. It will be about 120' long when completed. The surface drainage is being installed, but much of it has to be replaced due to damage caused while installing it. Some of the larger 60" and 54" corrugated steel pipes have also been damaged and will need to be repaired before the project is accepted. An unusually heavy rainstorm this weekend came after a week of heavy rain, causing flash flooding in Madison County. The section of the project from Buckner Gap to US 23 had most of the erosion control devices destroyed or washed out, and some of the pipes were dislodged as well. When the soil dries out some, extensive repairs will need to be done by the contractor.
A-10D
As of mid July 2001, over 9,000,000 cubic yards of excavation has been removed on this project. The contractor is removing material from only one location now, just north of the Laurel Creek Bridge. It's all rock and he is putting it in Waste Site #1, hopefully so the paving contractor can use the material to crush for concrete aggregate. Over 677,000 cubic yards of undercut was also removed, which was far less than the over 1 million cubic yards of undercut that we estimated. The presplitting quantity has increased to 10,400 square yards, which should be about the end of this pay item.
So far 109 masonry drainage structures out of 140 have been installed. The erosion control stone quantity is up to 9200 tons, and the erosion control matting has increased to 280,000 square yards. The ABC (aggregate base course) quantity has not changed since April.
The concrete decking on the Laurel Creek Bridge is nearly complete, with only one main pour left to go plus the approach slabs. The railings and median barrier will then be the only part left to pour, but an anti-icing system and ladders inside the hollow columns still have to be installed.
North of the bridge, Wright Brothers has very nearly completed the excavation on this project. All that is left is the grading of the escape ramp and the final few feet in one large cut. Surface drainage is being installed, as well as the aggregate base course for the final grading layer. 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 100,000 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. The bids were opened this month, and a contractor should be named within a few weeks. Construction is expected to begin later this year, with a completion date by mid-2003.
Previous Project Updates:
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