|
 They
stood before the busiest stretch of highway in the Fort
Worth TXDOT district and gazed along the job that lay
ahead. As a bleeding skyline gave way to dusk, the plan
became clear. Austin Road and Bridge, a paving contractor
out of Dallas, would subcontract with Vance Brothers
on a project in Fort Worth. Vance Brothers and Austin
Road would repair 80,000 square yards of I-20 and Loop
820 in Tarrant County that had experienced continuing
problems with separation. This separation problem was
caused by water infiltration within the underlying concrete
joints and had begun to transmit wide cracks into the
overlay. With the groundwork in place, Vance Brothers
and Austin Road went to work.
The plan was to use BP Amoco’s
Petrogrid over the concrete joints on I-20. Petrogrid
is a paving composite made from Petromat and a heavy-duty
structural grid composed of epoxy and resin-coated glass
fiber. When combined with asphalt tack coat, the fabric
side of the composite provides the moisture barrier
and stress absorption that only the Petromat System
can provide. The glass fiber grids on top allow the
asphalt concrete overlay to actually interlock with
the grid. Petrogrid minimizes water infiltration into
the pavement and also provides strength to the structural
grid with less than 5 percent elongation to minimize
overlay cracking.
 The
final design used 10.5 ft. wide Petromat on the shoulders,
10 ft. Petromat on inside lanes and then alternated
the 6.75 ft. Petrogrid over the joint cracks with a
6 ft. Petromat width for the inside lanes.
The usual round of change orders
and weather delayed the project start date until late
October 2001. Due to the high volumes of traffic (approximately
100,000 vehicle passes per day) and rush hour considerations,
Austin Road and Vance Brothers crews labored nights,
starting at 8 p.m. and working until 4 or 5 a.m. TXDOT
required that the highway be reopened for the 6 a.m.
rush hour.
Austin Road and Bridge paved
two lanes each night and Vance Brothers installed the
Petrogrid and Petromat. In all, the project took Vance
Brothers eight working nights to complete. Vance Brothers
installed a total of 56,230 square yards of Petromat
4599, 23,500 square yards of Petrogrid and applied 23,885
gallons of AC 20.
 Jerry
Shouse was the TXDOT inspector on the project. Jerry
is a very experienced inspector, but had not worked
on a project with composite grid installation. Jerry
was impressed with the material and with Vance Brothers’
proficiency installing the product. "I was glad
to have the experience of overseeing this installation.
I was glad to gain some experience with these type products,"
he said.
David Mason was the on-site
project manager for Austin Road and Bridge. David had
worked on previous projects in which Austin Road had
installed the fabric underseal with their own crews,
and he commented, "I was very happy to work with
Vance Brothers on this project. Working with the grid
and various widths of material, I was very happy to
do this alongside a company with experience and expertise
working with these materials."
 Wherever
water infiltration is damaging a road structure, the
BP Amoco strategy may be the best solution for paving
repair and preparation. With eight locations nationwide,
Vance Brothers Inc. is available for paving fabric installation
in Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska,
New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.
|
