Sandstorm

Contractors fight beach battles during U.S. 90 repair, overlay

By Sam Barnes

Project manager Kenny Haynes of Superior Asphalt Inc. begins each day hoping that the wind blows from the east, north or west.

That’s because a southerly wind along coastal Mississippi sends a torrent of sand onto the Jackson, Miss., contractor’s U.S. Hwy. 90 asphalt project. Superior Asphalt is overlaying and repairing 13 mi of the four-lane highway from Biloxi to Long Beach under two contracts totaling $26.9 million.

“The Mississippi Department of Transportation says the sand is contaminated once it hits our site, so we can’t put it back on the beach,” Haynes says. “Some days we’ll start cleaning it up, and by the end of the day the site is covered again. It has turned into quite a few truckloads, I can tell you that.” The gathered sand is stockpiled for reuse as construction material.

Unfortunately, the locals tell him that a southerly wind blows nearly continuously from early May through June.

“And the dunes that used to protect the road from the sand were obliterated by Hurricane Katrina three years ago,” Haynes adds.

Connecting to the westernmost end of Superior Asphalt’s projects, Warren Paving of Hattiesburg, Miss., is simultaneously overlaying a $28.8 million, 11-mi stretch from Long Beach to Pass Christian, Miss., and has similar problems with sand.

Once the three contracts are completed in early 2009, the 23 mi of coastal highway will have new asphalt totaling anywhere from 2 to 8 in. thick. In addition, the contractors are repairing the 50-year-old-plus concrete base with flowable fill in spot locations and repairing concrete drainage pipe. Curb, gutter and sidewalks are also being reconstructed.

Superior Asphalt began its work in December, consisting of 8- and 5-mi sections.

“Over the years, and as a result of Hurricane Katrina, there had been a lot of settling in the roadway,” Haynes says. “That’s the reason for the rehab. It was pretty uneven and holding water in some locations.”

Kelly Castleberry, MDOT district area engineer in Ocean Springs, says the concrete base of the asphalt roadway used to serve as the driving surface.

“It was one of the first segments of U.S. 90 to be four-laned and served as a main east-west route prior to the construction of Interstate 10,” Castleberry says. He adds that the concrete “is still in decent shape for its age,” although some significant settling had occurred over the years in some locations.

“Some of the slabs totally failed because of Katrina, but they were quickly repaired to put the road back into operation,” he says. “In those cases, we actually poured a replacement slab and overlaid it with asphalt.”

The repair work immediately after Katrina was performed by Warren Paving; Huey Stockstill Inc. of Picayune, Miss.; and Mallette Bros. Construction of Gautier, Miss. 

Haynes says the 89,000 tons of Superpave asphalt for Superior’s contracts are produced by a plant about 5 mi from the site. Six trucks deliver the asphalt to the site during the paving operation.

“After milling, we’re coming back with about 2.5 in. of leveling and surface courses,” he says. With the leveling course finished, Superior began laying the surface course in mid June. The slope of the driving surface is being increased from 1.5 to 2% “to create positive drainage on the roadway,” Haynes adds.

Gulf Coast Hydro Vac of Gulfport is repairing or replacing existing storm drain along the route by cleaning the pipe with a water jet and inspecting each pipe section with a video camera to look for damage.

“So far, about half a dozen pipe sections have been repaired,” Haynes says. “They still have some pipe to clean out and inspect.”

Triangle Contracting of Kocsiusko, Miss., and Landmark Contracting Inc. of Gulfport are building the curbs, gutters and sidewalks along the entire south side and most of the north side of the roadway.

Haynes says the job is being built in 2-mi sections to maintain a gap between work zones. He expects to finish the project by January.

Warren Paving’s project, which connects to the westernmost end of the Superior Asphalt job, requires more significant repairs to the concrete base. Warren Paving project manager Mark Patton says he plans to finish the project in November.

“About 90% of the slabs have shifted,” Patton says. “It’s built on sand, and since it was built in the 1950s, and because of Katrina, it has a lot of wear and tear.”

In those locations where repairs are necessary, Sunbelt Sealing of Kosciusko, Miss., is drilling the slabs and pumping flowable fill to repair the damage.

“For those slabs that have failed, we totally removed the sections and came back with 12 in. of full-depth asphalt,” Patton adds.

Warren Paving is placing about 67,000 tons of Superpave asphalt, all produced by its plant 10 mi from the jobsite.

“Most of the surface course will be placed from 7 p.m. until 6 a.m.,” Patton says. The Warren Paving crew will begin placing the surface course this month.