Paving the way

U. S. 165 path widened through rural areas south of Alexandria

By Sam Barnes

Two sections of U. S. Highway 165 are pushing the state's Transportation Infrastructure Model for Economic Development south of Alexandria.

A $12.6 million stretch of five-laned road through Glenmora is nearly finished, while a $10.5 million section from Forest Hill to Woodworth will be finished next spring.

Chris Roussel, a project engineer with the Department of Transportation and Development, said the Glenmora section will ultimately straighten a 4-mi. section of road through the city.

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"If you plotted the existing road, it kind of zigzagged," Roussel said.

Realigning the road meant the road crew didn't have the luxury of building the new lanes unhindered by traffic.

"Some parts of the road fell in the path of the new highway and some didn't, so we'd have traffic all around us," said B. J. Carlin, project manager with W. E. McDonald & Sons of Glenmora.

Carlin has a personal stake in the project since his company's offices are located in the middle of the jobsite.

"The new road actually passes through the original location of our home office," he added. "We had to relocate to the other side of the road." Several buildings were demolished to make way for the new five-laned roadway.

"The old roadway, consisting of concrete paving and asphalt, was completely removed," Roussel said. "The grade didn't change at all."

The new road, consisting of four driving lanes and a center turning lane, was built of soil cement, 12 in. of limestone and 10 in. of concrete driving surface. Curbs and gutters border all of the urban sections, while 10 ft. outside and 4 ft. inside shoulders border the rural sections.

Other work at the site includes subsurface drainage installation, box culvert cross drains and catch basins.

Construction was a little simpler for a straighter mile-long rural section that extended north of Glenmora, since the new lanes could be built while traffic used the existing road.

"We built the new southbound lanes first, then switched traffic over and just milled and replaced 2 in. of asphalt to turn the existing road into the northbound lanes," Roussel said. Gilchrist Construction Co. of Alexandria performed the milling.

From Forest Hill to Woodworth, Diamond B Construction of Alexandria is wrapping up a substantial "cut and fill" operation on 4 mi. of rural highway that will create the new southbound lane embankment.

"It is very hilly and difficult terrain, but they're close to completing the new road bed. In the next month, they'll put the limestone base down to begin the new road construction," said Roussel.

More than 455,000 cu. yds of soil will be excavated from the site and more than 340,000 cu. yds. will be re-used as embankment material. Denton-James Construction LLC of Baton Rouge is performing the earthmoving operation.

"Theoretically, you want to balance the job where you're cutting from one hill and putting into the next bottom," Roussel said.

The new road bed consists of 12 in. of limestone, followed by 5 in. of asphalt binder course and 3.5 in. of asphalt wearing course for the driving surface.

Once the new lanes are finished this summer, traffic will be switched over to allow the crew to begin milling and overlaying a portion of the existing lanes to serve as the new northbound lanes.

Other parts of the lanes will be completely demolished to allow crews to shift the road slightly to the west.

The project also requires construction of a bridge across Indian Creek. The new seven-span bridge will reach 140 ft. and be built of a poured-in-place flat deck supported by precast concrete piles.

"When both of these projects are finished, U. S. 165 will be four-laned from Alexandria to 3.5 mi. south of Woodworth, then two-laned to the new section in Glenmora," Roussel said.

The next contract will link the two completed sections and is expected to be let in July 2006. Louisiana TIMED Managers will manage the project.

Other projects planned to begin in 2006 include sections from Oakdale to Glenmora, Oberlin to Oakdale, Kinder to Oberlin, and Fenton to Kinder.

Useful Resources:

For updates on the U. S. 165 jobsites, go to: http://www.dotd.state.la.us/construction/alexandria.html#RAPIDES

For more info on future TIMED work on U. S. 165, go to: http://www.timedla.com/improvement/pdf/us165/schedule_us165.pdf