4/29/2014
Reed Hollinshead
ITD Communication
208-334-8881
reed.hollinshead@itd.idaho.gov
ITD project southwest of Eagle wins engineering excellence award
BOISE - The reconstruction of Idaho 44 from Linder Road to Ballantyne Lane,
completed in October 2013, won an award from the American Council of
Engineering Companies of Idaho at
their Engineering Excellence awards luncheon April 14 in Boise. It was the Idaho Transportation Department's first design-build project. Central Paving was the contractor and
Horrocks was the lead designer.
The segment of Idaho 44 between
Linder Road and Ballantyne Lane is a major east-west commute route in
the Treasure Valley and the primary access to Idaho's Eagle Island State
Park. Every day 19,000 motorists drive through the Idaho 44/Linder Road
intersection. Traffic in this area is expected to increase to 30,000
cars each day by 2030.
To accommodate the anticipated future
increase in traffic, ITD needed to widen the highway from three lanes to
five lanes, and partnered with ACHD to improve the Idaho 44/Linder Road
intersection. The newly widened intersection has two through lanes in
each direction on Idaho 44, room for future double left-turn bays onto
Linder Road and right-turn lanes at all four sides of the intersection.
Idaho 44 was expanded to five lanes in the two-mile segment from
Ballantyne Lane to just west of Linder Road.
The project also
featured a few challenges and innovations, such as integrating a
700-foot long gravity retaining wall with a large irrigation canal
instead of a large box culvert, as initially planned. The design-build
firm also chose to use a CRABS (Cement Recycled Asphalt Base
Stabilization) rather than full reconstruction, as their materials
analysis proved CRABS to be cheaper, quicker, and provided the same
lifespan.
Design-build allowed the design and construction
teams work together under a single contract with the department. The
Idaho 44, Linder to Ballantyne project was unique because ITD brought
Central Paving, the construction contractor, on board while Horrocks
Engineers was developing the project's design plans.
This partnership
allowed the construction contractor to work hand-in-hand with the
engineering firm throughout the project. The construction contractor was
able to contribute its knowledge of best practices and constructable
methods throughout the design process, which allowed for a speedy
resolution of issues.
The project was completed on time and within budget.