DFW Connector
Pavement Design and Construction
Challenges and Solutions
7 March 2014
2014 Virginia Concrete Paving Conference,
Richmond, VA
By: Dan Dawood, P.E.
1
DFW Connector

Owner: TxDOT

D-B Firm: NorthGate
Constructors

Lead Design: PB Americas

Pavement Design: Transtec

Cost: Over $1.0 billion

Publicly funded CDA:
www.dfwconnector.com

$667 million from public gas taxes,

$250 million from ARRA funds, and

$107 million from bond proceeds for ROW
acquisition.
2
DFW Connector
Project Length: 8.4-mile initial phase of
14.4-mile project,
 Existing 12 Lanes Expanding to 24
lanes

CL
2-3 lanes
6-7 lanes
2 lanes
3
DFW Connector Design Tasks
4
Pavement
Design Tasks

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Thickness design
Reinforcement design
Temporary pavement design
Block-out solutions
Terminal joint design
Pavement transitions
Pavement widenings
Gore area design
Mix and materials
Resilient modulus verification
5
CRCP Thickness Design

PCC Thickness Design
 10”
CRCP for Frontage Roads
 13” CRCP for Main lanes, Ramps, and Managed
lanes
 2.5” HMA Base Layer
 12-36” Lime Stabilized Subgrade/Crushed
Concrete Base (Effective Plasticity Index
Requirements)
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Reinforcement Design

Adopted updated reinforcement standard
 CRCP

(1) -03
Longitudinal Steel
13” CRCP: #6 bar @ 5.5”
10” CRCP: #6 bar @ 7”

Transverse steel
Varies as a function of pavement width (PW)
For 13”: #6 @ 2.5’ for PW < 60 ft up to @1.0’ for PW <
120 ft,
CRCP (1) -09
Same Longitudinal Steel as CRCP (1) -03
 Transverse steel: #5 @ 48” for PW up to 100 ft

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Optimized PCCP Mix

#57 stone, pea gravel, and natural sand
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Toll Gantry Area Blockouts
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Other Pavement Design Tasks

CRCP Transition Design
 CRCP
to HMA
 CRCP to existing CRCP
 CRCP to new CRCP
 CRCP Thickness Transition

Design of Pavement Widenings
 Drainage
Considerations
 Remaining Life of Existing CRCP
 Future Rehabilitation Needs

ProVAL Analysis - PI vs. IRI
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Accelerated Construction
Challenges and Solutions

Construction Schedule: 4 years (2010-2014)

Design-Build contracting process
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Accelerated Construction
Challenges and Solutions

Keep all lanes open during peak travel
times
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Temporary pavement to shift traffic
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Accelerated Construction
Challenges and Solutions

Keep all lanes open during peak travel
times

Most lane closures scheduled to occur at
night (off-peak)
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Accelerated Construction
Challenges and Solutions

Varying paving widths:
 12’
lanes, 10’-12’ shoulders, 16’-24’ ramps
 10’, 12’, 16’, 22’ and 24’ paving widths
10”-13” paving thicknesses
 Short pours
due to MOT
and bridge
construction

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EB & WB managed lanes – SH
114
Accelerated Construction
Challenges and Solutions

Four new Guntert & Zimmerman pavers
– 10’-18’ paving widths
 S850 – 18’-24’ paving widths
 S600
15
Accelerated Construction
Challenges and Solutions

Four new Guntert & Zimmerman pavers
 Stringless
compatible
 Mobility – Tracks steer 90°
 Telescoping End Sections

Easy to change widths – 2 hrs
 226
lane miles of CRCP (535,000 yd3)
16
Terex Batch Plant Model S
RexCon Dual Drum 12 yd3 plant
 Capacity 600 yph.
 Typical batch size is

yd3 on flowboy rear discharge trailers
 7 yd3 on tandem dump trucks
 11
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Location of Batch Plant and Yards
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Completed Manage Lanes
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Leica Stringless System
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Leica Stringless System
North bound widening on SH121
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Leica Stringless System
Advantages:
 Smoother ride
 Eliminates man-hours in
the field (production and
safety).
 Eliminates schedule
impacts/coordination
(stringline setup/removal).
 Flexibility
 Haul
route
 Trucks entrances and exits
 jump around from area to
area (easier set-up)
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www.thetranstecgroup.com