Storm water pipes up to 25 ft. deep added to the complexity of the project, as each required substantial deep sheeting and dewatering to accommodate the traffic while the storm sewer was placed in phases. To help mitigate public impacts, a moveable barrier wall was used to provide three lanes of traffic in the high flow direction — northbound for heavy recreational traffic on the weekend, and southbound for traffic returning to the Detroit area.  

A new barrier gate system, the first of its type in Michigan, was installed in the median barrier wall to allow authorized vehicles entry with a key code. This provided critical access to the opposite roadway without going to the nearest interchange, while also allowing fast action in emergency situations.

The project also required a five-year material and workmanship warranty on the concrete pavement, and in response, the contractor used an internal quality control (QC) program that involved a detailed, job-specific QC plan and the requisite documentation to meet the DOT requirement. 

The project had no major accidents and no lost-time. With a sharp eye on quality, the contractor earned 85 percent of the available incentive for strength,  and 100 percent for the smoothness on the mainline paving. Equally important, road users now have an excellent section of Interstate that will provide years of quality service.

Silver: Interstate-355 South Extension (I-05-7709), Will County, Ill.

Contractor: K-Five Construction  Corp.

Owner: Illinois State Toll Highway Authority

Engineer: Harry O. Heft.er Associates, Inc.

Placing a quarter million square yards of concrete pavement and appurtences  in 15 months is a daunting task in even the ideal conditions, but when four months of that schedule are lost to harsh winter weather, it’s easy to see why this project was especially challenging.

K-Five Construction placed about 4.3 miles of new pavement on the northbound and southbound lanes of I-355 in suburban Chicago, along with median and outside bituminous shoulders in each direction and cast in place median concrete barrier wall as the divider. The contract was one of several awarded by the tollway authority and one of four projects constructed by the contractor.  All told, K-Five constructed more than 400,000 sq. yds. of concrete pavement on the four projects, and this particular project, at 250,000 sq. yds. of concrete, represented the longest project with the most concrete paving of all those awarded.   

K-Five had to coordinate other projects that interfaced with this project, including construction of four cross-road bridges, a toll plaza facility, and fiber optic cable installation.  

Temporary bridges and creek crossings were constructed around the two bridges being built on the mainline portion of the highway.