Colorado Demonstration Project: Pecos Street over I-70 Bridge Replacement Using SPMT Technology

As part of a national initiative sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration under the Highways for LIFE program, the Colorado Department of Transportation was awarded a $3.76 million grant to replace the Pecos Street Bridge over I-70 to demonstrate the use of an alternative contract delivery method called construction management/general contractor (CM/GC) and the use of proven, innovative technologies for accelerated bridge removal and replacement. This report documents accelerated bridge construction technique using a self-propelled modular transporter (SPMT), which allowed substructure and superstructure work to proceed concurrently. Under conventional construction methods, the project would have taken 15 months to build, causing significant delays to traffic on Pecos Street and I-70 due to limited closures and shutdowns. However, using the CM/GC approach and SPMT methodology, the bridge was replaced in only 7 months. The impact to travelers on I-70 was reduced to 50 hours over a weekend. Travelers on Pecos Street were impacted for 10 weeks, which were required to build roundabouts at both ends of the bridge to improve safety and capacity. By compressing the construction time, it is projected that 15 crashes were avoided at the site. The construction costs for the innovative option were $0.65 million more than traditional methods would have been. However, user delay costs were reduced by an estimated $2.24 million. When bundled together, there was a net saving of $1.59 million. This represents about 9 percent of the $18.6 million spent for the construction and construction engineering for this project. A public online survey indicated that, overall, more than 85 percent of the respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with the approach to minimizing traffic disruption during project construction. Because of the success of this project, Colorado plans to accelerate bridge construction using SPMT on future projects, where this innovative technology is feasible and appropriate for conditions.

• Record URL:
  http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hfl/summary/pdf_2/Colorado%20I-70%20Pecos%20Street%20Draft%20Report_12_4_2014_Final.pdf
• 
• Record URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/54507
• Corporate Authors:

  Applied Research Associates, Incorporated

  100 Trade Center Drive, Suite 200
  Champaign, IL  United States  61820

  Federal Highway Administration

  Office of Infrastructure
  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Bhajandas, Amar
  • Sadasivam, Suri
• Publication Date: 2014-10

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Edition: Final Report
• Features: Appendices; Figures; Maps; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 60p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bridge construction; Construction management; Contract administration; Costs; Demonstration projects; Surveys; Technological innovations; Traffic delays
• Uncontrolled Terms: Self-propelled modular transporters
• Geographic Terms: Colorado
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Construction; Highways; I53: Construction of Bridges and Retaining Walls;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01577098
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: NTL, TRIS, ATRI, USDOT
• Created Date: Sep 28 2015 9:10AM