US-131 Howard City, Michigan

US-131 Concrete Widening/Reconstruction

This Michigan DOT Project consisted of 11.88 miles of concrete widening/reconstruction and ramp geometric improvements. Also included in the project were bridge reconstruction, bearing replacements, pin and hanger, beam repairs, beam and column painting, hot mix asphalt overlay, earthwork, minor widening of carpool parking, guardrail, permanent signing, and pavement markings.

This one-year project started with the installation of temporary traffic control and a temporary barrier wall. In order to maintain schedule, the bridgework started at the same time as the temporary barrier wall started, using single lane closures. Roadway work started after the barrier wall was in place and traffic was detoured.

The in-line bridge near the midpoint of the project controlled access for all other operations. Access was shut off for two-week periods for the deck overlays. IHC built a haul road through the median and around the south end bridge to maintain project access.

The existing concrete pavement was removed and crushed on-site and then reused for both base material under the new concrete pavement and as aggregate for shoulder gravel.

The project was constructed under MDOT’s revised Optimized Gradation and percent within limits requirements, which required the owner to perform all QA testing. This required daily coordination between the contractor QC personnel and the owner QA personnel to ensure that the test result were within a percentage on one another. IHC achieved 93% of the full PLW incentive.