ACPA Concrete Pavement Progress Q2 2020

Concrete Pavement Progress www.acpa.org 10 » continued from page 9 Weekly meetings included OKC officials as well as representatives from all construction projects gave Allen Contracting (an ACPA member) an opportunity to share their work schedule so others could plan appropriately. “We always presented a two-week schedule to give everyone a chance to plan ahead,” says Steelman. “We also met every two weeks with a team that included city representatives, police, and other groups necessary to control traffic and com- municate with the public.” Sustainable construction was also a consider- ation. The dismantling of the 1960s era bridge overpass gave Oklahoma DOT and Oklahoma City an opportunity to recycle the steel beams of the structure. “The majority of the steel beams went to counties throughout Oklahoma for use in their construction projects and some went to research teams that are studying fatigue and stress in bridges,” says Steelman. During construction, contractors also found artifacts from an era before the I-40 structure was built throughOKC—and in doing so, proved that what is old can be new again. “We found the rails of a streetcar trolley track that operated in the early 1900s encased in brick and covered by older pavements,” says Steelman. “It was interesting to find those tracks at the same time we were coordinating with representatives of the new streetcar system that is in use today.” O K L A H O M A C I T Y B O U L E V A R D