AASHTO Journal, 23 December 2014
U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx awarded $5.37 million in Federal Highway Administration grant to six states, to aid projects designed to speed up deployment of innovative road and bridge work practices.
The money will go toward offsetting the costs of “pioneering” methods for highway project delivery, the DOT said.
“We are building projects faster and at less cost to taxpayers, without compromising safety, because of the investments being made through this program,” said Foxx. “Saving money on one project means we can make improvements to critically needed infrastructure in communities elsewhere and that’s smart investing.”
Acting Federal Highway Administrator Gregory Nadeau said “the states and local communities receiving these AID grants are breaking ground when it comes to putting better techniques in road- and bridge-building in place.”
The grants from the FHWA’s Accelerated Innovation Deployment Demonstration program will be used for the following projects:
-The Arizona Department of Transportation is receiving $1 million to replace antiquated lighting with a new light-emitting diode system in the Queen Creek Tunnel along U.S. 60 in Superior.
-Michigan’s Department of Transportation will use $1 million on a bridge replacement project, and another $661,000 for a separate asphalt project.
The first project will replace US-131 bridges over 3 Mile Road using slide-in construction to minimize the traffic impact in and around Grand Rapids, on a major route that links major cities in southern Michigan to resort areas in the north.
In the second project, MDOT and the Dickinson County Road Commission will use hot in-place recycling and warm mix asphalt to rehabilitate 4.5 miles of roadway in the city of Kingsford. The project will recycle 100 percent of the existing pavement and is designed to reduce construction costs.
-The Missouri Department of Transportation was awarded $964,000 to apply high friction surface treatments on seven road projects to improve safety.
-Utah’s Department of Transportation will use $775,110 to help save lives in work zones by utilizing new technology and portable variable speed limit signs to more effectively reduce speed limits in active construction work zones.
-The Ohio Department of Transportation and Northeast Ohio Area-wide Coordinating Agency received $600,000 to develop a comprehensive transportation asset management program. That would help the region address a backlog of projects and make cost-effective program decisions.
-The Indiana Department of Transportation received $371,604 to develop a template and best practices for the use of alternate-bid detailed plans for a self-propelled mobile transport installation to replace existing twin interstate bridges.