Construction Equipment Guide
470 Maryland Drive
Fort Washington, PA 19034
800-523-2200
Mon July 02, 2001 - Southeast Edition
Located in the coastal area of South Carolina, the Carolina Bays Parkway will open as a brand new six-lane scenic route from U.S. 501 to SC 9. Usually the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) is called upon to upgrade a pre-existing highway or country road. But with this $232-million project that was not the case. Carolina Bays Parkway is a new 20-mi. (32 km) stretch that connects SC 9 to U.S. 501 through some environmentally sensitive wetlands that need to be preserved.
“The Carolina Bays Parkway,” said Project Manager D. W. “Dave” Lewis, district engineering administrator for SCDOT District 5 DEA, “is primarily an embankment job that requires bringing in fill material over wetlands to create interchanges over a 20-mi. stretch. The road will have controlled access and will look like a toll road. This is much more complex than a facilities upgrade.”
Lewis explained that this project was unusual because it is a totally new road. SCDOT selected the location, did an environmental study, and preliminary design to establish the footprint. From there it went to a Request for Proposal (RFP) and to examination of the estimates from several teams. The RFP called for a venture that would acquire any right-of-way that was not already owned by SCDOT.
The original budget was set at $232 million, which included the purchase price of land that had to be acquired.
On the project, a design-build project, SCDOT had to commission a contractor and an engineering firm to work together to complete the original design of the roadway and do the construction for the best value in the allotted time frame. In this case, Palmetto Transportation Constructors (PTC), of Myrtle Beach, SC, was asked to come on site. The PTC team was pulled together to complement the SCDOT design and construction experience.
Despite problems and challenges Lewis is pleased with the progress of this vast and complex project. “I get satisfaction because it gives me the ability to feel like I have made a difference. People will have changes in their lives because of Carolina Bays Parkway.”
“This project offers a few real challenges,” Forrest Ropp, safety engineer, PTC, said. “It will require moving 9 to 10 million yds. of dirt for fill, required the state to acquire a portion of the land from private owners, then the design of the road has to keep up with the construction schedule. It is sort of a design-as-you-go proposition. Then there is the execution of the design itself.” All this has to happen within what Ropp refers to as “fast-track time frame.”
Heavy rains last summer and the remoteness of the terrain have posed some progress difficulties. Moving in large heavy equipment on unstable surfaces demanded some creative problem solving at times. Fortunately, PTC is a very experienced construction group that completed, among other noteworthy projects, the new Denver airport project.
Since Carolina Bays Parkway is new and going into an environmentally sensitive area, both the Environmental Protection Agency and the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control are watching the progress carefully, taking a special look at the impact on wetlands and wildlife in the area.
There are weekly inspections and so far the team is getting great grades, according to Ropp. “And we will continue to be especially interested in environmental issues while we complete this Bay Parkway,” he added. “This is a part of the design-as-you-go aspect of this project. We meet the challenge of keeping up with construction while impacting the environment as positively as possible.”
So far, 27 bridges have been completed along the route. The work was started in April 2000 and is anticipated to be completed by December 2002. Ropp anticipates that there will be three separate openings of portions of the road. The first section from SC 22 to 48th Avenue could be opened about March 2002. Then the second section to U.S. 501 could be drive-able in August, with the north end completed section from SC 22 to Highway 9 scheduled to be open in December 2002.