ACPA Quarter 1 2016

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Quarter 1, 2016 9
Pr jectSnapshot
» » 12.5 miles of road
paved in three
sections—two in
Minnesota and
one in Iowa
» » Located on the state
line from Emmons,
Minnesota (US HWY
69) to Gordonsville,
Minnesota (US
HWY 65)
» » Construction began
June 2014 and was
complete July 27, 2014
» » Stringless paving was
used on the project
» » Iowa tine texturing
used versus Minnesota
carpet drag
» » Plant was set up on
Worth County-owned
land and calibrated »
and inspected by »
Iowa DOT and MnDOT
» » Haul time to
project ends was
20–25 minutes
Collaboration, Communications
Lead to Successful Project
Across State Lines
By Sheryl S. Jackson
A family reunion, a picnic table conversation,
and a true spirit of collaboration were the key
ingredients to a successful paving project that
involved one highway that crossed state lines.
When Al Venz, Worth County, Iowa’s assistant
engineer attended his wife’s family reunion, he
sat down with long-time friend and family-by-
marriage, Dan Kenison, highway technician for
Freeborn County, Minnesota. “Al just looked
at me and asked what we were planning to do
with State Line Road because his county was
planning a concrete overlay to fix their section
of it,” says Kenison.
The roadway in question is a 12.5 mile stretch of
highway that is along the state line, crossing from
Minnesota into Iowa and back into Minnesota.
Although Worth County had plans to renovate
their section of the roadwith an unbonded 5-inch
concrete overlay with a fabric interlayer over
old concrete sections and bonded overlay over
bituminous sections, it was not until after the
“picnic table conversation” that Freeborn County
looked at the possibility of renovating their sec-
tions of the road.
“We were planning to close our section of the road
for construction, so it made sense to see if Free-
bornCounty wanted to plan their construction at
the same time to avoid disruption of local traffic
multiple times,” said Rich Brumm, engineer for
continues »
s t a t e l i n e s