New Mexico Department of Transportation
Project Location:Otero County,NM
Contract Amount: $1,417,898
This project originally consisted of five phases of construction. Four involved removal and replacement of existing concrete wall barrier (CWB), and/or gabion baskets utilizing the existing gabion rock. The fifth phase entailed removing several large boulders that loomed over the existing highway and had the potential, after heavy rains, to roll off the hillside and impact the traveling public and roadway surface.
The first phase included the construction of three extended shoulder areas. AUI constructed these areas first to facilitate the subsequent detour of traffic to the newly widened roadway in order to better accommodate the removal and replacement of the gabion baskets and/or CWB. AUI’s Project Management Team opted to incorporate the three separate shoulder widening areas into one traffic control setup. This enabled the traveling public to be inconvenienced only one time versus the three times under the original Traffic Control Plan.
The fifth phase, which called for the removal of the ominous boulders, was completed under a separate Traffic Control Plan that required a total closure of the roadway for short scheduled periods of time.
Originally, the intent was to utilize the existing gabion rock in the new baskets. However, shortly after AUI started the removal of the gabions, it was clear that new gabion rock material would be required to complete the gabion baskets per the intent of the construction drawings.
In addition to the gabion rock, other major bid items included 9,600 SY of rock scaling; 1,100 CY of rock excavation; 4,700 CY of unclassified excavation; 2,274 SY of detour pavement; 3,300 CY of gabion removal and replacement; and placement of 1,150 LF of state-furnished CWB.
For this contract, AUI also retained the services of a Public Awareness Officer, just as we did for the otherUS82 project (foregoing listed Project No. 2). In addition, AUI implemented an extensive flagging operation which included runaway truck spotters in conjunction with trained and certified flagpersons.