Dec 20, 2013 - 5 years ago
By Supply Post
The New York State
Thruway wanted to experiment
with unbonded concrete
overlays. They chose
a five mile (8 km), four lane
section of Interstate 90
near Hamburg as their test
section. Surianello General
Concrete, based out of Buffalo,
New York, won the
bid to pave the nine inch
(229 mm) thick concrete
overlay.
The age and the design
of the original roadway
created a paving challenge
right from the start. It was
built in the 1950s and
didn’t conform to current
geometry requirements for
superhighways.
“They built it with a
standard crown section
going through all horizontal
curves. No super
elevations,” Frank Surianello,
President of Surianello
General Concrete,
explained. “Now, to conform
to Federal Highway
Administration guidelines
for superhighways, you
have to adjust and make
your transition from normal
crown to full bank
horizontal curves. The
depth of the blacktop underlayment
at these locations
varied from 1.5
to 7.5 inches (38 to 191
mm). Anchoring traditional
baskets would be a
challenge.
“Since this was an overlay,
the next issue was setting
string. You’d have to
pre-drill the holes for the
stakes and spend a lot of
time and effort anchoring
them. Plus, stringline basically
holds the job hostage
because your access is very
limited.”
The American Concrete
Pavement Association
(ACPA) was involved
throughout the design and
implementation phases
of the project. Surianello,
who is currently the 2013
Chairman of the ACPA,
and his company worked
together closely with the
association on the Interstate
90 overlay.
The answer to both
the transverse joint and
stringline challenge for
Surianello General Concrete
was a GOMACO
four-track GHP-2800
equipped with a new independent
IDBI attachment
and a Leica Geosystems
3D stringless guidance
system to control the paver.
Both the 3D and IDBI
systems were completely
new to the company. Before
they took their new
paver out on a project,
they wanted to do training
and a test pour at their
headquarters. GOMACO
sent members of their
3D team, Service Department,
and an instructor
from GOMACO University
to provide hands-on training.
“We did a 150 foot
(45.7 m) test pour at our
facilities in Buffalo where
we trained our operators
on the dowel bar inserter
and the stringless,” Surianello
said. “The handson
experience allowed us
to get our ducks in a row
so when we mobilized for
the actual project, everyone
knew their job and
we could hit the ground
running.”
With training completed
and the crew confident
in their abilities,
Surianello moved their
GHP-2800 on site and began
paving the overlay
project on Interstate 90.
Concrete was supplied
by their own central mix
batch plant batching nine
cubic yard (6.9 m3). Triaxle
dump trucks carried
the concrete to the paver
on the existing road and
dumped directly onto it in
front of the paver. Tight
conditions on the project
didn’t allow much room
for haul roads or a placer/
spreader.
The GHP-2800 paved
25 feet (7.6 m) wide and
nine inches (229 mm)
thick. Every 15 feet (4.6
m) the GOMACO IDBI
was placing 25 dowel bars
for the pavement’s transverse
joint. Each bar was
1.5 inches (38 mm) in
diameter, 18 inches (457
mm) long, and placed at
a 12 inch (305 mm) center
spacing across the width
of the slab.
“We had 1000 joints on
the project and we did not
find one bar that was out
of place,” Surianello said.
“The GOMACO service
representative did a great
job setting up the paver
and my guys really got
tuned into it.”
The Leica 3D system
also worked well for the
stringless rookies. Surianello
teamed up with a local
surveying company to
build their paving models.
“They surveyed the existing
blacktop and built
the models to maximize
efficiencies for depth,” Surianello
explained. “The
company, Innovative GPS
Solutions LLC, actually
went through GOMACO
University’s stringless class
and they did a very good
job building our models for
us.”
Real-time pavement
smoothness behind the
GHP-2800 was monitored
by two paver-mounted GSI
(GOMACO Smoothness
Indicator) units. The state
of New York uses the twotenths
blanking band to
monitor the smoothness of
their new roads.
“It’s a California-type
profilograph, two-tenths
blanking band, five inches
per mile (79 mm/km), so
it’s pretty lenient,” Surianello
said. “When we
profilographed this project,
we were getting readings of
zero, or 0.1 inch (2 mm).
The readings were so good
that I was skeptical, so I
asked another contractor to
bring out their lightweight
profiler and see what kind
of numbers it read. We
were getting in the 70s on
the IRI, with readings as
low as 30.
“We really found some
interesting things using the
GSI and getting real-time
smoothness numbers and
what affects the smoothness
coming out the back
of that paver. It was just
incredible.”
Surianello’s paving production
averaged around
2600 feet (792 m) per day,
or between six to eight feet
(1.8 to 2.4 m) per minute.
The GSI showed them they
were reaching maximum
smoothness results at that
speed with the concrete
paving mix they were using.
A new GOMACO T/C-
600 texture/cure machine
followed the GHP-2800
applying a longitudinal
tine and white spray cure.
Wheels attached to the
T/C-600’s sensors allowed
steering and grade control
off the new slab on the
stringless project.
“We were excited about
this new paver and it really
was a celebratory thing for
our company,” Surianello
said. “It has worked out
well for us. We had 15
headers on the project and
they came out perfect. We
didn’t have to grind one
square foot anywhere on
the job.”
It’s too early yet for the
Thruway Authority to have
any results on the success
of the concrete overlay test.
One thing that has been determined
though, is how
smooth the new overlay is.
“I’ve had some industry
feedback stating straight
out that this is the smoothest
concrete pavement that
anybody has ever ridden
on in New York,” Surianello
proudly said. “And these
are blacktop guys saying
it!”