To improve safety and traffic flow around the north entrance to the Orlando International Airport (OIA) and provide smoother, uninterrupted access to motorists in the area, the Central Florida Expressway Authority (CFX) embarked upon the SR 528/SR 436 Interchange Reconfiguration project in August 2020. The $118 million undertaking has been entirely funded with toll revenues. Also known as the Martin B. Andersen Beachline Expressway, SR 528 was opened in 1967 as the first expressway in the Central Florida system.
"It is extensive and it's a CFX signature project. Improvements on this project include seven new flyover bridges at the State Road 528/ State Road 436 interchange and an additional travel lane in each direction of State Road 528 for nearly 3 miles near that interchange," said Kathy Putnam, of CFX. "Two of those flyover bridges replace old loop ramps that were from the 1980s. This will really allow for smoother access through that interchange to and from Orlando International Airport. With the addition of the lanes on State Road 528, we're already seeing an ease in traffic congestion through that area."
CFX has recognized this to be a signature project given the extent of the work being accomplished and the crucial importance of the roadway to the region. Putnam shared that this is the gateway to the central Florida region for nearly 50 million visitors that come through OIA each year. Every day, almost 50,000 cars go through that interchange. It is the northern entrance to the world's 7th busiest airport and there is a booming community called Lake Nona southeast of the airport.
With continued growth in the area, OIA is witnessing much more local traffic, warranting the major improvement. Additionally, this project will include enhanced aesthetics like tiered planter walls, updated signage and lighting, and landscaping, making it a welcoming gateway for visitors. It will feature native plants key to the CFX's award-winning landscape program and include staggered tree canopies.
Also, CFX, in its procurement process, deemed this a project of critical concern, allowing for pre-qualification of contractors invited to bid, to ensure signing on a contractor experienced in successfully delivering a project of this complexity and magnitude. Colorado-based SEMA Construction Inc. was one of the four pre-qualified contractors and was awarded the project based on low bid. DRMP is the project engineer of record and RK&K the project CEI.
"As part of the planning for this project, CFX allowed the contractor flex time at the beginning of the schedule, so they had a number of months before the notice-to-proceed [NTP] date that allowed for planning and ordering of materials," said Putnam. "That also is part of why they're able to finish up ahead of schedule. They had a long lead time in ordering critical materials. The contractor and the CEI worked very closely together ensuring they were sticking to the schedule and speeding it up where they could."
This project also offered an incentive of $2.7 million for a full early completion, separate from the overall cost of the project.
There are almost 50 subcontractors on the job, with a total of about 350 people working the job site. This includes everything from bridge crews, concrete workers, ITS, lighting and more, placing 2,300 tons of steel girder; pouring more than 11,500 cu. yds. of concrete; running 4.5 mi. of drainage pipe and 12 mi. of fiber; placing more than 74,000 tons of asphalt; and installing enough sod to cover 47 football fields.
Equipment used include concrete mixer trucks, cranes, bulldozers, lifts, motor graders, grinders, milling and resurfacing equipment, dump trucks and backhoes, among other pieces of equipment expected for a job of this nature.
Putnam explained MOT (maintenance of traffic) was a critical component since the designing of the project had occurred before the pandemic, so there had been no allowance for longer periods of lane closures in planning for some of the more impactful construction activities to occur on a faster pace.
"The MOT was critical in the design and the phasing not only because of the number of motorists coming through this intersection but because you have so many people who are not familiar with this interchange," she said. "One of the helpful things during the construction was to place large directional pavement markings on the pavement at ramps and through the interchange to help identify where people are supposed to turn, for instance, to get to the airport or to go west on State Road 528, which is what takes you out to the attraction area."
With work occurring so close to active traffic, safety was a top priority, particularly concerning drivers unfamiliar with the area.
"That was a challenge, and it was at the forefront of the project team's mind. CFX coordinated very closely with Orlando International Airport throughout this entire project," said Putnam. "The Greater Orlando Aviation Authority is the governing body for Orlando International Airport. They had representatives in every weekly progress meeting."
There was a lot of coordination with drainage from the project area — from the interchange on to the airport — and for the 25,000 employees at the airport, ensuring they knew road and ramp closures to get to work on time.
Some of the major considerations in project design included maintaining access to the airport throughout construction. The design was done to greatly reduce the need for closures (and resulting detours) into the airport to ensure people caught their flights on time. To mitigate impacts to traffic, much of the construction occurred adjacent to existing ramps and/or bridges, allowing the new structure to be built then having traffic shift over to the new structure, allowing for the demolition of the old structure. Figuring the geometrics of the interchange revisions within such a tight footprint also was challenging.
"The delivery of the project was somewhat unprecedented. The project started in the beginning of the pandemic, and nobody could predict how it would affect the project. Despite those unknowns, CFX elected to issue NTP, honoring their commitments to their customers and to Orlando International Airport on delivering a completed project while minimizing the duration of construction. That was the goal among project stakeholders," said Mike Hill, senior project manager of SEMA Construction. "CFX, RK&K, DRMP [Engineer of Record] and SEMA worked diligently to identify all critical path activities and planned early submittal and priority review on long-lead items. With the complexity of the project, detailed planning and scheduling with subcontractors, vendors and stakeholders was vital in advancing the project. The teamwork between the project stakeholders is unprecedented and is the key to the success of the project." CEG
