The U.S State of California has announced plans to construct the largest precast concrete highway in North America. The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) intends to use precast concrete pavement slabs on what has been termed as one of the largest projects of this nature in North America.
The Pavement and Slab Replacement Project on the Foothill Freeway (I-210) will be one of the many precast concrete highway pavement slabs that have become common across the U.S as many state departments of transportation embrace rapid methods of highway construction. Many states have recognized the efficiency that comes with the use of precast slab in the construction of highways and have been used in several projects in various states.
The close to 12 miles road projected which is expected to cost $148 million is located north of Los Angeles, starting at the Dunsmore Avenue, through La Crescenta-Montrose, and extending to the North Los Robles Avenue overcrossing in Pasadena.
Oldcastle Precast of Fontana contracted to precast highway pavement slabs
Oldcastle Precast of Fontana has been appointed to supply thousands of precast highway pavement slabs. Oldcastle Precast is a leading supplier of precast pavement slabs across the U.S and is also a leading provider of engineered building product solutions in North America. The company is expected to supply 6,500 precast concrete pavement slabs for the project.
The project will use 12.5ft by 11.33ft slabs and will cover 9.7 miles of the I-210. The slabs will mainly be used in sections that have been extensively damaged through erosion and deterioration due to heavy traffic.
To ensure the project does not lag behind and also minimize interruption on traffic, work is being done overnight with the highway closed at around 9:00 pm. The rehabilitation is being done by cutting out the worn-out sections, adding a concrete base to the opening, then installing the precast concrete pavement slabs. The slabs are installed around an hour after the concrete base achieves the required strength. The road is then reopened to full traffic at around 5:00 am the following morning.
