Project Profile:
SAN BERNARDINO I-10 FREEWAY
Project: San Bernardino Freeway (Interstate I10)
Where: Pomona, California
When: October 1999
Engineer: Caltrans
Concrete Contractor: Morrison Knudsen, Harber Construction
Concrete Producer: Western Rock
Product Used: Rapid Set® Cement
The most significant rapid hardening concrete placement ever attempted was part of a Caltrans program to find a better and faster way to reconstruct California's aging freeways. Observers said that Caltrans could not have picked a better place to launch its Longer Life Pavement Rehabilitation Quality Team program.
Two of the four eastbound lanes on the San Bernardino freeway were shut down in a 3-mile freeway section from the 57/210 interchange to Garey Avenue, Pomona. The I-10 averages 240,000 vehicles daily and has one of the highest concentrations of deteriorated pavement in Los Angeles County.
The I-10 project rehabilitated a 2-mile section of roadway in 55 hours by using 3,500 cu. yd. of Rapid Set® Cement to replace the old 9” thick pavement. As a result of what was learned in the 55-hour job, in the future, the lane closures might be reduced to just 30 hoursthereby lessening inconvenience for the motorist. The fast setting concrete allowed heavy-duty traffic on the new lanes in 3 hours following placement. Morrison Knudson received a bonus of $500,000 for completing the 2-mile section on time.
Independent fatigue testing of Rapid Set® Cement Concrete was conducted by Construction Technologies Laboratory, Chicago, with up to 4 million cycles of loading. The tests showed that Rapid Set® Cement Concrete has an expected life of 87 years vs. only 20 years for conventional portland cement concrete.
More Information on Rapid Set® Cement here