Higher ground
LA 10 gets straighter, higher, wider near Clinton

By Sam Barnes

A section of LA 10 is being shifted to the north and a higher and straighter embankment constructed to alleviate a flooding problem near Clinton. The low spot, which straddles the city limits of Clinton, is being raised with a new asphalt road and shoulders.

Denton-James Construction of Baton Rouge should finish the $13.3 million project in March.

"The first step after breaking ground in August was to get the fill into that 1-mi. bottom so we could work on the bridges," said project manager Gerald Denley.

The highway will eventually be topped with about 10 in. of asphalt of base, binder and wearing courses. Outside the city, another 4.5 mi. of existing road will get new shoulders and be milled and overlaid.

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"After existing utilities were moved out of the way we placed about 380,000 cu. yds. of fill from two borrow pits," Denley said. "That allowed us to begin work on the bridges. We wanted to get all of that started before the winter rains."

The new road embankment was raised anywhere from 5 to 10 ft., depending on the location. At the same time, Gulf South Piling & Construction Inc. of Jefferson drove 55- to 75-ft.-long precast piles as support for two bridges that cross Pretty Creek and the Comite River.

"There are several bridges that go through that bottom, including two girder-span bridges that cross the rivers and three flat-span bridges that cross small tributaries that feed into the rivers," Denley said. The 10-span Pretty Creek bridge is the longest.

He added that value engineering helped shave time off the bridge phase.

"We re-designed the job - we were originally to build the bridges in two phases, but we felt we could do it in one phase by moving the road over about 10 ft.," Denley said. "It got us out of the traffic and allowed us to move nonstop with the construction." A minor problem arose when stormwater was trapped between the new embankment and the existing road.

"When it rained there was nowhere for the water to go, so we installed eight temporary crossdrains beneath the existing road," he said.

In the spring the Denton-James crew began widening the embankment on the existing 4.5 mi. of road to build new 10-ft. shoulders using a "cut and fill" process. A base course of asphalt will be placed on the shoulders so that traffic can be moved to the outside.

"That will free up the inside lanes for milling and paving," Denley said.

Construction Specialists Inc. of Port Allen began paving the shoulders this summer and should finish the project later this year.

"There's a little more than 76,000 tons of a Type 8 mix that we'll place out there," said Brent Bergeron, Construction Specialists president. About 20 to 25 trucks will deliver about 1,500 to 2,000 tons of asphalt to the site each day.

A two-silo Astec asphalt plant in Port Allen is producing the mix.

"Once at the site, the mix will be placed by two Caterpillar pavers and a RoadTech material transfer vehicle," Bergeron added.

He said having to place the shoulder asphalt in small widths under traffic would likely slow progress.

"It'll take some time to get that done," Bergeron said. "It's not like we're paving 15 ft. wide, rolling and going. There's a lot of starting and stopping." Several bridge-tie ins along the existing road will further slow progress.

Only 5 to 6 in. of base is being placed on the shoulders, with the remaining lifts to be placed once the entire road is paved. Two 10- to 15-man paving crews will be working at the peak of construction.

When the shoulders are complete this fall traffic will be moved to the outside lanes so that the existing lanes can be milled. The Construction Specialists crews will then place 3 in. of binder and 2 in. of wearing across both the driving lanes and shoulders.

Bergeron said his crew would then begin work on the new realigned section of road.

"The only potential delay would be the current shortage of soil cement," he added. The cement is needed as base for the new road section.

"We're hoping to start placing cement for the shoulders in June and start paving in July," said Denley. Traffic should be moved over to the shoulders by August so that the milling operation can begin.

Midwest Asphalt of Gainesville, Texas, is milling about 4 to 6 in. of existing asphalt.

"There's a little bit of a profile change to the existing road to improve drainage," Denley said. "We'll mill the asphalt, excavate the road to subgrade, cement treat it and come back with asphalt."

The new road will measure 44 ft. wide, including two 12-ft. driving lanes and two 10-ft. shoulders.

Other work at the site includes the installation of reinforced concrete pipe, cross drains and side drains and the dredging of about 1,500 ft. of Pretty Creek to improve drainage capacity.

"Overton Construction of Livonia is placing the rock on the slopes and bottom of the creek where we've dredged," Denley said.

Useful Source:

For updates on the progress of LA 10, go to: http://www.dotd.state.la.us/construction/baton.html#E%20FELICIANA