White Construction Company is handling the resurfacing of approximately 10 miles of Interstate 10 in Washington and Holmes Counties in northern Florida. The $6.6 million project begins just west of the Caryville interchange near Ponce de Leon to County Road 18 in Holmes County, at the Bonifay exit near Westville. Chiesland, Florida-based White Construction began work September 5, and the project is expected to be finished by early June of 2001.
I-10 is the oldest interstate highway in Florida, dating back to the late 1960s and early 1970s. The project involves resurfacing concrete portions of roadway with asphalt. In fact, most of the Florida portion of I-10 is a concrete roadway, according to Mack Sanders, construction office engineer for the Florida Department of Transportation.
“A concrete roadway is a good roadway, but in this particular situation, it was subjected to excessive truck traffic, which allowed water to seep through the joints and damage the subgrade,” said Sanders. “Problems cropped up several years ago, so we have been using different types of reconstruction, trying to find something that would last.”
Sanders explains that water getting into the subgrade of the road caused a suction type action, which damaged the concrete and its base underneath. Construction companies have attempted to make repairs and replacements to roads by cracking and reseating the surface.
Asphalt is replacing concrete on highways all around the country, according to Al Andrews of Reynolds, Smith and Hill, a consulting engineering firm which is headquartered in Chipley, FL, and is advising FDOT and White Construction on the I-10 project.
“Concrete roads are becoming a thing of the past, especially Florida,” said Andrews. “We’re taking out all of the concrete from Jacksonville to Pensacola and replacing it with asphalt. It’s about durability. Asphalt is more durable because of its flexibility.”
Andrews estimates that because this is an upper-pace asphalt project, another 15-20 years could be added to the life of the highway. CEG
