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Work on the estimated $115 million U.S.-98/SR-158 Extension Project in Ala. began in September 2017 and is expected to be completed by 2023.
Thus far the DOT has awarded four of the seven contracts for the road and bridge infrastructure construction that is taking place in Mobile County. More contracts are expected to be signed in the next few years.
“ALDOT has continued working to complete designs, secure environmental clearances and purchase right-of-way to resume construction of the SR-158 extension that will connect to the new U.S.-98 that is partially completed,” according to ALDOT.
“With BP funding, ALDOT was able to move forward with the US-98 and SR-158 allocation plans for the structure of a two-lane Schillinger Road facility on the Mississippi State Line.
“The project scope will include building the foundation and performing the earthwork for four lanes, paving two lanes and creating interchanges,” it added. “ALDOT will pursue the ultimate divided four-lane design with fully functional freeway type interchanges as funding becomes available.”
Katelyn Turner, ALDOT public information officer of the Southwest Region stressed the importance of the project.
“It will alleviate the heavy volume of large commercial vehicles, tourists and local traffic that frequent this route from neighboring states to reach I-10,” she said.
The first segment was extended to 366 feet. Long, 4-round, the bridge east on US-98 in Big Creek – a $5.5 million contract that was awarded to Tanner Inc. and ended in October 2018. These paintings added 1,350 linear bridge feet, which were supplied with a top and top surface. water barrier and containment formula to improve water and watershed quality.
The second section, beginning east of SR-217 (Lott Rd.) to Schillinger Road (1.5 mi.) in Semmes, started in April 2018 and is nearing completion. The $16 million contract was awarded to John G. Walton Construction Company Inc. The project (80 percent federal and 20 percent state funds) involved grading, drainage, pavement, and the construction of the two bridges over Seabury Creek and Rodgers Road.
2.7 mi. ($26.8 million) east of Glenwood west of Lott Road. structure through H.O Weaver and Sons Inc.
The overpass structure and handle of the $16.8 million Lot Road jug, awarded to McInnis Construction LLC, whose teams began painting in May 2020.
“The department plans to take bids for the construction of the Wilmer-Georgetown Road Interchange as well as the Glenwood Road Overpass in year 2021, depending on funding availability,” according to ALDOT. “The department has applied for a $25 million BUILD Grant through USDOT.”
The 250-foot building. long two-lane bridge over Glenwood Rd. it is expected to be leased in November 2021 and $11.1 million, 281 feet. two-lane long bridge over Wilmer-Georgetown Rd. US-98 with Jug Handle will be rented in November 2020.
ALDOT is expected to let the final segment — Mississippi Line to 0.5 miles east of Glenwood — in September 2021.
ALDOT, to keep the public more involved and better informed about the project, established a Community Outreach Group.
“This group of private citizens has volunteered to work with ALDOT to ensure we are headed in the right direction,” stated the project web page. “[They] assist us in providing feedback to plans, suggesting alternatives, asking pertinent questions and keeping the community informed. The group was recommended by an independent panel including members from Mobile County Government, Fish and Wildlife and the Chamber of Commerce. The creation of this Community Outreach Group and their independent selection is part of our continued commitment to a Safe98.”
Johnny Walton, owner and president of John G. Walton Construction Company Inc., is pleased with the work that his crews put into the second segment.
“We paved the two lanes and the bridges have been built,” he said. “All but the striping is done.”
Michael Gibson, the firm’s project manager, noted that one of the challenges was the environmental restrictions at Seabury Creek to protect vegetation and the endangered gopher tortoise from construction activities.
“We had to install a fence along the right of way anywhere to prevent the turtles from entering the site,” he said. “We ended up catching 10 to 15 turtles. ALDOT’s environmental officer searched for turtle burrows and set traps to catch them. We had to check the assignment every day to make sure we didn’t find new burrows. The turtles were transferred to a secure domain through an environmental center to rescue them.”
The site located on sandy ground, which did not involved any disruption to the excavation and structure of the tracks.
“The rain didn’t hit us because the floor was so sandy,” Walton said, “unless it rained. We work there quite a bit every day. Approximately 500,000 cubic yards of loans were invested in the project. We had earrings. struggle, but we had a very clever erosion subcontractor in Parker Grassing Co. who covered the slopes. They stayed right while we built the slopes, so we had very little erosion.”
Seabury Creek Bridge is 344 long and one on Rodgers Road is 122 long.
“Everything went well, ” said Walton. “We asked McInnis Construction LLC to make the bridges and they did a task for us.”
The bridge flows for concrete structures were made in the afternoon due to temperatures.
“We did this so that the concrete wouldn’t crack or dry out,” Gibson said.
Earth work was a major element of the work and this was aided by a Komatsu 210LCi excavator and a Komatsu D51-i dozer that have built-in GPS systems.
“Building the model and using GPS equipment really sped the job up,” he said. “We spent less time with layout and staking that saved a lot of time.”
On average days, there were approximately 15 Workers from John G. Walton Construction Company and subcontractors on the site. The subcontractors were C-H Construction for signs and railings, Ozark Striping Co. for Tracing, Turner-Wilson Fence Company for Turtle Fences, T.K. Peavy – Sound for concrete work and McInnis Construction for bridge work.
“McInnis was assigned the next task and has a great bridge to build and we are doing the leveling paintings for them,” said Walton, who noted that Rusty Goff, the project’s superintendent.
The company also hired a Volvo ECR235 DL excavator; a John Deere 310L backhoe; a Cat 416E backhoe; a Volvo L90 charger; Rollers: a Hamm H11X and a Dynapac CC624HF; a Wirtgen 2000i miller; a Vogele 5203 finalizer; a WEILER E1250 BFV motion vehicle; a Komatsu GD655-7 motor grader; A more sensible DT-80J self-propelled broom; a Finn B-70 haystack; a Ford F750 tanker truck; and a New Holland TN55 agricultural tractor.
“We had mechanics from our shop, but we didn’t have any major equipment issues on this job,” said Walton. “Most of the equipment was new.”
John G. Walton Construction buys and rents appliances from Tractor Equipment Company (Komatsu), Thompson Tractor Co. Inc. (Cat), Beard Equipment Co. (John Deere) and Cowin Equipment Co. (Volvo). Ceg