A project to repave and improve drainage on a heavily traveled part of I-65 in Birmingham, Alabama presented interesting challenges. The project area consisted of a two-mile stretch of the northbound and southbound lanes of I-65 between I-459 and US-31. Traffic volumes on this stretch of interstate logged in excess of 120,000 vehicles per day.
Working for the Alabama Department of Transportation, Thompson Engineering was tasked with determining how to replace the concrete travel lanes and shoulders while maintaining two to three lanes of travel in each direction during construction. Thompson’s solution? Complex construction staging that included crossovers through the concrete median barrier wall to shift traffic from northbound to southbound using contra flow for one lane in each direction.
The total design was completed on a fast-track schedule of about seven months, which allowed the project to be built in one construction season.
Thompson Engineering earned the “Excellence in Concrete Pavement” Silver award from the American Concrete Pavement Association (ACPA) in the Divided Highways (Urban) category for this project.
client
ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
location
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA
market
TRANSPORTATION
Service Specialties
- TRANSPORTATION
