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NPHQ > Awards & Success
Stories > 2006 Make a Difference Award Winners > Washington
Highway Teams Win National Quality Awards
For Taking Extraordinary Measures to Minimize Motorist Delays
New Orleans, LA/November 14, 2006 – The National Partnership for Highway Quality (NPHQ) has awarded two of its 2006 “Making a Difference” awards to Washington State highway teams whose quality innovations promote roads that are completed more quickly, ride better, last longer, reduce congestion, and improve safety. Entries are judged by a panel of transportation industry leaders who serve on the NPHQ Steering Committee,
Gold
The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) won the Gold Award in the Risk Taking category.
On the scale of most highway reconstruction projects, a $5.1 million budget to repave a one-mile section of Interstate highway is relatively small and should be easy to accomplish. This was not the case for Interstate 5 in downtown Seattle.
Disruption to traffic on the busiest stretch of Interstate in Seattle was a serious challenge. When planning for the project, WSDOT engineers calculated a 12-mile backup during construction in their worst case scenario. The project also traversed one of the most densely populated neighborhoods in the State, where noise would be an issue. To mitigate the multitude of issues associated with the resurfacing project, the decision was made to perform the work over four weekends in the spring. This timetable would lessen the impact on commuter, rush-hour and summer tourism traffic.
Aggressive construction schedules and around-the-clock traffic management, along with extensive outreach, were keys to the project’s success. Even though the weather didn’t cooperate for consecutive weekend work and the resurfacing spread into July, WSDOT kept the project on everyone’s radar screen. The extensive outreach to convince motorists to avoid the project worked. Figures showed that traffic dropped by more than half compared to the same weekends a year earlier.
The project served as a testing ground for techniques on future high-traffic volume highway construction projects. WSDOT also learned that by concentrating its construction schedule, it reduced the amount of time and money needed for construction and traffic control by months.
Bronze
In addition, the State captured the Bronze Award in the Breaking the Mold category for its unique methods in replacing a bridge deck on the historic Lewis and Clark Bridge; connecting Longview, Washington and Rainier, and Oregon. Because the bridge was the only viable link to the two areas, the contractor was limited to nightly eight-hour bridge closures to remove the existing panels, install the new ones and open the bridge to traffic.
With time at a premium, 100 panels using pre-cast concrete and an innovative Panel Transport System were put in place to accomplish this task. The challenge of mass producing the unique replacement panels was achieved by constructing the panels in two separate staging yards. Their placement was further complicated by the precision required for the fitting of the panels.
It took creative thinking and savvy problem solving to adhere to stringent structural tolerances and to develop and execute unique construction practices that would allow WSDOT and its contractor to work quickly. Despite these challenges, the project was delivered six months early and $5 million under budget.
About NPHQ
The Making a Difference Award program is sponsored by the National Partnership for Highway Quality, which combines public and private highway expertise to deliver quality highways for the safety and mobility of the traveling public. NPHQ members include:
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