Resurfacing, reconstructing and widening highways in Tennessee are keeping several contractors busy this summer.
Dement Construction Company, headquartered in Jackson, TN, has tackled the four-laning and reconstruction of State Road 22 in Henderson County, which will include the widening and rebuilding of the bridge over Interstate 40, according to Corbin Hamil, vice president in charge of asphalt operations.
“We’re using primarily Caterpillar dozers and tractors,” Hamil said.
The road is heavily traveled, running from north to south connecting Union City to the interstate, Hamil said.
Although some wetlands are affected by the project, requiring “special precautions and construction methods,” Hamil said, “The biggest thing will be the bridge over I-40. We’ll have to maintain traffic on I-40 during construction.”
The current 5-mi. project is part of an overall 30 to 40-mi. widening of the road which leads from Lexington to the interstate, Hamil said. Work began the end of June and is expected to take about two years to complete, he said. It will provide work for between 50 and 100 workers, Hamil said, involving the asphalt, bridge and grading divisions.
Dement was founded in 1978 and does work in Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi.
Total cost of this segment will be $14.3 million,
Wright Paving
Contractors Tackle
$1-Million Project
Wright Paving Contractors of Fayetteville, TN, started out in 1973 with founder Grady Wright doing small jobs like driveways, and has grown to a $10-million company with 45 employees and asphalt plants in Bedford, Giles and Marshall counties.
“About 75 percent of our work is with the DOT,” said Gary Holder, chief estimator for Wright.
Right now, Wright is wrapping up a $1-million project that includes resurfacing State Road 16 east of State Road 64 to south of State Road 276, a 5.l-mi. (8.2 km) stretch.
“We’re using a Blaw-Knox PF-3200 asphalt spreader,” Holder said of the Bedford County project.
Thomas Wright is president of the company. The project began June 19 and is expected to be completed by the end of July, Holder said.
APAC Tennessee
Awarded $1.9-Million DOT Contract
APAC-Tennessee Inc, is resurfacing an 8.1-mi. (13 km) section of State Road 69 from State Road 20 (also known as U.S. 412) to Cherokee Heights Road.
The Decatur County project will include 40,000 tons (36,000 t) of asphalt, according to division president Michael Maynard, and will use a Blaw-Knox 3200 paver, Roadtech shuttle buggies, and Ingersoll-Rand BD 110 rollers. Total cost will be $1.9 million.
APAC is one of the largest paving companies in the country, Maynard said, with 51 divisions across the country. The Nashville division has 250 employees.
APAC was founded by the Warren brothers, Maynard said.
“They invented asphalt, so this company has a long history, back to the early l900s.”
Ford Construction Land Three DOT Projects
Ford Construction Company is working on $23.1-million Tennessee DOT projects in Obion and Dyer counties.
Ford is performing new construction and reconstruction to four-lane State Road 78 Extension, a .3-mi. (.5 km) section from Market Street to Tucker Street in Byersburg, a $1.9-million project.
The company was awarded a contract to resurface State Road 3 from State Road 77 to the Obion County line, a stretch of 7.2 mi. (11.6 km). That contract is for $2.9 million.
The largest contract, for $18.3 million, is for the grading, drainage and construction work on seven bridges and two box bridges and partial paving of State Road 22 Extension at the bridge over the north fork of the Obion River. That work is expected to be completed before July 1, 2003.
According to Sam Baggett, superintendent of Ford Construction Company’s bridge division, the State Road 78 project includes two trackhoes, two bulldozers, three rollers, five dump trucks and a crew of about 20 people.
Ford was founded in 1955 and employs 150 to 200 people. The Obion County project involves three lifting cranes, seven scrapers, four bulldozers, four backhoes and two graders.
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