A center divider and traffic turnarounds will be built, drainage improvements installed, traffic signals upgraded, and concrete curbs installed. Ramps to and from M-59 and I-96 also will be rebuilt.

By Tom McDonough

Livingston County, located in the southwestern section of Michigan’s lower peninsula, is one of the fastest-growing counties in the state. It offers its more than 150,000 inhabitants and numerous businesses convenient access to the state’s major metropolitan areas, such as Detroit, Lansing, Ann Arbor, and Flint. These urban centers can be reached via three major roads — I-96, US-23, and M-59.

“With the high-volume growth in that corridor, both residential and commercial, we conducted an extensive study and determined that M-59 needed to be widened,” says Kari Arend, Communications Representative for the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT). Michigan is allocating $28 million for the improvements, and the project is part of the state’s five-year, $8.95 billion highway and road improvement program.

A Team and A Timeline

Ajax Paving Industries, Inc., a leader in asphalt paving and manufacturing in southeastern Michigan and the Gulf Coast of Florida, was awarded the $7 million paving portion of that effort, and work will begin shortly.

Preliminary construction began this past winter when the prime contract or for the job, Six S, an underground and earthwork company, started excavations at the west end of the corridor near I-96. Work will proceed eastward for 4.29 miles between I-96, one of Michigan’s most traveled interstate highways, and Mallard Pond Drive in Howell, the county seat of Livingston County. M-59 will be transformed from a two-lane road into a four-lane boulevard.

Construction on the section of the roadway between I-96 and the Shiawassee River will be completed this year, while work from the river to Mallard Pond Drive will conclude in fall 2008.

Along with widening and reconstructing M-59, a center divider and traffic turnarounds will be built, drainage improvements installed, traffic signals upgraded, and concrete curbs installed. Ramps to and from M-59 and I-96 also will be resurfaced.

Finally, the project will replace three bridges — the CSX Railroad, Shiawassee River, and Great Lakes Central Railroad bridges.

“It is a good-size project for us,” says Bob Farina, Ajax’s Estimator for the job. “It is one that will be heavily staged to maintain traffic flow throughout the reconstruction.”

Getting a Head Start

According to Tim Hay, Project Manager for Ajax, the company has installed some temporary pavement so traffic switches can take place, and Six S has been completing earthwork and installing stone base so paving can begin.

“This project will require us to place more than 110,000 tons of Super-paveblend asphalts,” he says. “We
will be using 3E10, 4E10, and 5E10 asphalt, as well as 4E10 and 5E10 high-stress asphalt.”

Superpave stands for SUperior PERforming Asphalt PAVEments, which are specially blended asphalts that can withstand extreme temperature changes and bear consistent heavy loads.

“The 3E will be installed as the base asphalt, because of its larger stones. It will be used for strength and stability,” Hay says. “The 4E is a finer-grade asphalt and will be the middle layer, while the top layer will be 5E, the finest-grade asphalt, which is very workable and provides smooth drivability and excellent drainage.”

The high-stress Superpave asphalt will be used on the main travel lanes, turnarounds, and intersections,
where vehicles, especially trucks, stop frequently. “The high-stress asphalt has better durability and is more resistant to rutting,” Hay says. “At the intersections, you want a better material.”

Because of all the traffic, M-59’s new design also calls for the asphalt to be placed at a depth of 7.5 inches rather than the normal 3 to 4 inches. “That will create a stronger pavement that will hold up better and last
longer,” Farina says.

Ajax will commit an eight-person paving crew to the project, as well as four double-drum, high-frequency rollers. The high-frequency rollers create smoother, denser asphalt mats for strength and drivability.

Traffic Jam

“Perhaps the biggest challenges on the project are how to divert traffic and keep it moving while construction is going on,” MDOT’s Arend says. “With a project this size, the impact isn’t just on M-59, but the intersecting highways and every intersection that comes into that roadway.”

The MDOT plans to keep one lane of traffic open in each direction during construction, controlled by flaggers during daylight hours. It has created detours to ease congestion in the area, and it posts daily alerts for drivers on its Web site, www.michigan.gov/mdot.

“For our part, we will have to be available and out there when we are needed to keep it on schedule,”
Farina says.

	Michigan is allocating $28 million for the improvements, and the project is part of the state’s five-year, $8.95 billion highway and road improvement program.

Coordinating Ajax’s activities with the other subcontractors on the job will be the key to keeping the project on time. “Because of the size of the job, there will be a lot of coordination with the other contractors to be sure everything is in sync,” Hay says. “Fortunately, we have a lot of experience on projects like this, so I’m confident it will finish on schedule.”

Farina adds, “We are eager to get underway. You can’t predict just what will happen on a job like this, but we are ready for any contingency. That’s what makes Ajax so good.”

“Once M-59 is improved,” Arend says, “residents will have a safer roadway because of the divider and the turnarounds. It also will enhance traffic efficiency, making travel easier for people living along that corridor.”