SR 8 TEAMWORK!

In November of 2006 a challenging ODOT project three years in the planning finally became a reality as Independence Excavating partnered with Beaver Excavating to help win the Route 8 & I-271 Phase 1 Reconstruction Project in northern Summit County. The Beaver Excavating Company was awarded the $91,300,000.00 project in January, 2007. The intention of the project is to alleviate traffic backups on SR 8 heading south into Akron or north into Cleveland by creating a limited access corridor from the I-271 / Route 8 interchange to Hines Hill Road. The Phase 2 portion will eventually pick up at Hines Hill and proceed south of the Turnpike.

Although Beaver is primarily known for their earth-moving capabilities on large projects, they will perform all the bridge work, drainage, and incidentals. Our scope of work consists of 140,000 cubic yards of excavation, 753,000 cubic yards of embankment, and 29,000 cubic yards of topsoil re-spread for the new access ramps. In addition to this earthwork, the project had poor sub-grade soils that required remediation. The subgrade was excavated to accommodate the placement of a #57 stone drainage mat with wick drains installed to depths of 50'-70' deep. A bridge lift of 8" minus size gravel material was installed over the #57 to help achieve stability on the unsuitable material below. After the sub-grade was treated, the embankments could be started and allowed to settle between six to nine months once planned sub-grade was achieved. Sub-grade improvement quantities consisted of 83,000 cubic yards of undercut, 51,000 tons of # 57 stone, 48,000 tons of 8" minus material, 54,000 tons of 304, 30,000 tons of concrete sand and 13,000 tons #1 and #2's.

In addition to the earthwork requirements we are installing 128,000 square feet of MSE pre-cast retaining walls at bridge abutments/fill slopes, and a 30,000 sf temporary wire retaining wall to facilitate a maintenance of traffic change on SR 8. The amount of select granular backfill required to support these walls is 180,000 tons of 304 gravel and concrete sand!

The project has an aggressive schedule with the possibility incentives or disincentives being assessed. Currently, we expect the majority of our work to be complete by the end of 2007. We are working under the direction of ODOT District 4. We thank Phil Crish, Dave Nist, and Anne Powell for their direction and cooperation on this massive project. We would also like to thank Mark Sterling, Jack Ford, Ted Wellman, Brian Francis, and Bill Ertle with The Beaver Excavating Company for giving us the opportunity to work on this unique project.