Hubbard Construction recently finished a sizeable project for the Florida Department of Transportation District 5, which included the resurfacing of 14.4 mi. (23.2 km) along State Route 50, a widely traveled state highway near Orlando.
The work was performed on SR 50 between State Routes 436 and 520. In addition, Hubbard constructed a sidewalk on both sides of the road just up to east of Alafaya Trail. They also added 13 bus bays, placed boxed culvert extensions, and modified the median along 6.7 mi. (10.8 km) from the Econlochatchee Bridge to just east of State Route 434, which is the same as Alafaya Trail.
Orlando Paving, an asphalt division of Hubbard Construction, handled the paving operations. The original contract called for $8.8 million of work to be completed. Hubbard entered into contract with the Florida DOT in July 1999. Work began at the end of October 1999 and the project was completed in mid-November 2000.
Originally developed as a 300-day contract, the project was extended. The extension was mostly due to additional work that was needed to repair the road after crews discovered a huge sinkhole along the roadway.
“We found a subsurface condition had developed and needed to be taken care of,” said Hubbard Project Manager Ed DeVincenzo. “The DOT added time to the contract after they came out and assessed the situation and determined the proper course of action.”
During the course of about a year, crews worked day and night to place more than 82,500 tons (75,000 t) of asphalt along the road. They used 48,400 tons (44,000 t) of Superpave structural coarse level four, 12,100 tons (11,000 t) of FC5 friction coarse and 22,000 tons (20,000 t) of FC6 friction coarse. The asphalt was delivered to the site by trucks from a Hubbard plant in Oveido, FL, which is about 7 to 10 mi. from any point along the job.
“This was a large job. There was a lot to be accomplished over a short period of time,” DeVincenzo said. “When you have crews working both day and night shifts, you are stretching your management because you are trying to cover two shifts and make sure everything runs together as smoothly as possible.”
Division Manager Reggie Sterns, Paving Superintendent Mike Wilson and Foreman Ralph Emanuel assisted DeVincenzo in the management of the project.
DeVincenzo added it takes attention to all details to be able to get the job done.
“When you have six to seven months on the same job you have to work on keeping focused so all goes smooth,” he said.
Not only is strong management and efficient planning important, good equipment is essential.
Hubbard used a Blaw-Knox 3172 paver on the job because Hubbard crews are used to the machine and they are reliable. A spare wasn’t placed on site because, first, DeVincenzo said, because crews have good luck with these machines and, second, Hubbard could mobilize another machine to the site fairly quickly.
“We use Blaw-Knox because we want consistency throughout our equipment fleet,” he said. “Our crews are used to the paver. When our guys operate them, the controls are all like the rest of the machines they use. These machines have been good pavers for us. We don’t have many problems with them. They give us a good service life and do a good job.”
He added in a project this large and on such a tight schedule, the company couldn’t afford breakdowns of important equipment.
“We have a lot of confidence in Blaw-Knox. We don’t want to worry about our equipment going down at a critical time,” he added.
The roller on site was a Hypac 778 with double drum vibratory rollers. For milling, the company used Roadtec 60B milling machines. An Etynre distributor was brought in to spray tack coat, while Broce Brooms machines were used for the distribution of asphalt along the resurfacing project.
DeVincenzo said his crews also have a lot of confidence in the roller they used and it was helpful in helping them meet the stringent project specifications.
“The state sets compaction requirements we have to meet and our goal is to not only meet but exceed those requirements,” he said. “The Hypac roller helped us meet that without too much effort, and they also provide a lot of reliability.”
Stottler Stagg & Associates Inc. is the C.E.I. firm contracted by the Florida DOT for the SR 50 project. In this role, they act as a liaison between the DOT and Hubbard Construction. Stottler Stagg performed all necessary testing, field inspection and monitored construction progress.
George Sawaya of Stottler Stagg was the project engineer for the job. He said the project went well and was one of the biggest Superpave jobs ever completed in Florida’s District 5.
Hubbard Construction completes projects throughout the state of Florida, with offices in Jacksonville, West Palm, Orlando, and Tampa. It also has two other asphalt divisions, East Coast Paving in West Palm and Atlantic Coast Asphalt in Jacksonville. The business is more than 80 years old.
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