The American Concrete Pavement Association recently recognized the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) for outstanding design and construction of the I-85 widening and reconstruction in Anderson County.

Bill DuBose, director of the Southeast Chapter of the American Concrete Pavement Association (ACPA) presented the citation at a meeting of the SCDOT Commission in Anderson.

He said it was an outstanding achievement that SCDOT and contractor Lane Construction Corp. were recognized as a finalist in the Traffic Management category in the 14th annual Excellence in Concrete Pavement Awards.

More than 16 mi. (25.7 km) of Interstate 85 were widened from four to six lanes in this $65-million project. The pavement structure now is 12 in. (30.5 cm) of new concrete pavement over the old existing concrete pavement, separated by 3 in. (7.6 cm) of asphalt.

Lane crews used 8 in. (20.3 cm) of graded aggregate base course, placed to match the existing concrete surface, on the portions that were widened. A moveable barrier was used to allow quick traffic switchovers for the 13 different traffic stages, all of them requiring two lanes open each way.

Paving mostly at night, Lane Construction’s on-site batch plant produced more than 135,000 cu. yds. (103,215 cu m) of concrete for the lanes and shoulders, enough concrete to fill more than 1,000 backyard swimming pools. To maintain year-round production, Lane used a boiler to heat concrete mix water during winter months and a chiller to cool the water during summer months.

“The Excellence in Concrete Pavement Awards, sponsored jointly by ACPA and Concrete Construction magazine, identify the achievements of paving contractors, engineers and specifying agencies/owners whose concrete pavement construction and rehabilitation projects represent some of the nation’s best projects in terms of efficiency, quality, and smoothness, as well as reduced costs and road-user delays,” Dubose said.

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