Photos
Motorists along Interstate 5 in Lacey and Tacoma will get an up-close look at that process this spring and summer as they crawl slowly through the work areas.
There will be noisy diesel concrete saw machines, concrete slot cutters, water tankers, excavators, grinders, cement mixing trucks, crewmen and plenty of orange barrels.
Most of the work will occur at night under lights.
The end result will be a much smoother and stronger freeway, according to John Rowley with the Penhall Company, which won the bid for the project and is one of the largest highway restoration companies in the country.
The work proceeds like a caravan up the freeway, Rowley explained.
First come the concrete saws that cut out panels of concrete where wear and tear has left cracks and crumbling pavement. Those slabs of concrete are then lifted from the roadway and toted away.
All the concrete from the project will be crushed and recycled.
A new panel is poured in place with a quick curing mix that is hand finished and sets up in four hours so cars can run on it the next day if needed. State inspectors test the cement to make sure it is cured.
The key to strengthening the highway is placement of metal dowels across the panel joints, six on each side of the panel.
The dowels help transfer the weight of vehicles over the concrete panels to reduce tipping of the panels that can cause breaks.
Rowley said a slot-cutting machine cuts a slot about half way through the panel. The slot is then carefully dug out by a worker so the dowel can be placed inside.
The slot is then covered with high strength grout and hand finished as smooth as possible.
The final step in the restoration process is the grinding. The entire highway is ground smooth, erasing the wheel ruts made by decades of passing vehicles and smoothing out the hand finished cement on the panels and dowels.
The grinding machine contains a 4-foot-wide grinding wheel up to 18 inches in diameter. It is made up of up to 100 individuals diamond blades clamped together.
“It will make a major difference (in the roadway),” Rowley promised.
