90 Working Days Saved on U.S.
90 Reconstruction
 E.E.
Hood cuts downtime and increases production by working simultaneous
phases
 Finishing
the project six months earlier than anticipated, E.E. Hood &
Sons Construction Inc., Von Ormy, completed the reconstruction of
U.S. 90 from Knippa to Uvalde in 158 out of the allotted 248 working
days. This was one of the last projects on the heavily traveled
roadway between San Antonio and Del Rio, with an average traffic
volume of 9,400 vehicles.
According
to TxDOT Hondo area engineer Carl Friesenhahn, the project was originally
set up to be constructed in three separate phases to shorten the
construction zone and minimize the traffic disruption. However,
before construction started E.E. Hood submitted an alternative request
to TxDOT to work two of the phases simultaneously to increase production
and eliminate downtime.
"We
agreed to allow this change provided there were gaps in between
the work zones that enabled motorists to pass slower vehicles prior
to entering the next work zones," stated Friesenhahn.
 The
reconstruction projects consisted of a 5-mi.-lone section that was
comprised of four 12-ft. lanes and 4-ft. shoulders; and a 3.2-mi.
section into the city of Ulvade that included a 14-ft. center-turn
lane for a total project length of 8.2 mi.
E.E.
Hood started by milling the upper 8 in. of the pavement surface.
The removed material was then stockpiled for transfer to Uvalde
County under Rider 43, Senate Bill 370, the County and Local Government
Assistance Program. The millings will be used by Uvalde County for
reconstructing and surfacing road projects.
After
the milling and stockpiling, Portland cement was spread on the remaining
base and subgrade at the rate of 4 percent, or 32.4 lbs./yd2, according
to item 275 of the TxDOT Standard Specifications for Construction
of Highways, Streets and Bridges.
The
in situ base/subgrade was treated to a depth of 8 in., and the only
pulverization requirement was for materials to pass the 2-in. sieve.
The material was mixed in only one pass with a CMI RS500B pulverizing
mixer, in tandem with a water truck.
 Cliff
Coleman, project superintendent for E.E. Hood said, "We had
no trouble mixing in one pass," and the Hood crew was able
to '"blue-top" the same day. After the material was treated
and mixed, it was compacted to ordinary compaction with a sheepsfoot
roller and vibratory steel roller. It was then sealed with a prime
coat.
"This
was a perfect job for us," said Coleman, "It was easy
to lay out, and we used up to 200 tons of cement per day.. .but
I think we could have done more."
Coleman's
crew for the project was only 14 men. Another 10-member crew was
added when the asphalt surface treatments started.
The
hot-mix asphalt surfacing initially began with 4 in. of Type A black
base as a temporary road surface. The black base was surfaced with
2 in. of Type C PG-64-22 asphalt hot mix and an additional 2 in.
of Type C PG-70-22 surface mix.
Vulcan
Materials supplied the hot mix asphalt from one of its plants dedicated
specifically to this project.
In addition to Friesenhahn's direction, Greg Biedeger, assistant
area engineer, was the project manager and David Lutz was chief
inspector.
Jim
Smith was the project manager for E.E. Hood and Sons and Don Yates
was assistant project manager.
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