Shortly before dawn, crews pulled the last barrels and opened the fourth and final new interchange on the highway corridor. With it, all eleven lane-miles of the design-build reconstruction are now carrying traffic on their final alignment, rebuilt without ever closing the corridor to the people who depend on it.
Built under live traffic
The corridor stayed open throughout construction. That single requirement shaped every phase of the work. Our design and construction teams planned the job together from the start, so the traffic control phasing, the bridge sequencing and the pavement design were drawn around keeping lanes moving.
- Night-only closures. Every full closure, beam setting and traffic switch happened overnight, so daytime commuters and freight never lost the corridor.
- Phased traffic switches. Traffic was shifted onto new pavement in stages, freeing room to rebuild the old lanes and build the interchange ramps behind temporary barrier.
- Bridge work in tight windows. Girder sets over live lanes were planned pick by pick, with rolling closures timed to the minute and traffic held only as long as each lift required.
- Constant communication. Closure schedules went out well ahead of each change, coordinated with local agencies and emergency services.
The final interchange
The last interchange was the most constrained of the four. It sits where the corridor meets a busy cross street with businesses on every quadrant, which left little room for laydown or detours. The team built the new bridge in halves, moving cross-street traffic from one side to the other while the opposite half was demolished and rebuilt.
The overnight opening was the last of the major traffic switches. Crews placed final striping, set permanent signs, turned on the new signals and walked every ramp before the cones came out. The work that remains is mostly off the travel lanes: landscaping, final drainage cleanup, punch list items and the documentation the owner needs to take the corridor into operation.
Every closure had a reopen time, and we met it. The public saw orange barrels for a while, but they never lost their road.
Project manager, MarkWester
A corridor finished
Four new interchanges and eleven lane-miles of rebuilt roadway are now in service. That outcome belongs to the design engineers, self-performed crews, trade partners and traffic control teams who worked the corridor night after night. Our thanks also go to the neighbors, businesses and drivers who planned around the work while we built it.
