A “Better Denver Bond Program” project, administered by the city and county, 14th Street was also designed to meet goals for using recycled materials, regional materials, capturing and treating runoff, and optimizing energy efficiency. The project not only met each of these goals, but also met the criteria for Greenroads, a rigorous sustainability metric system for roadways.

Despite many unforeseen utility issues, and the daunting challenges of working along such a busy downtown corridor, the project was completed on time and on budget. The newly reconstructed 14th Street now serves as a source of pride for the citizens, business leaders of Denver, and to all of those involved in the construction of the project.

Urban Arterials & Collectors—Silver

Project:                       SR-68: 500 South; Redwood Road to Interstate-15, Bountiful, Utah

Contractor:            Geneva Rock Products

Owner:                Utah Transportation Department

Engineer:              URS Corp.

State Route 68, 500 South in Bountiful is a main corridor that connects the newly constructed Legacy Highway and Interstate-15. This corridor is used daily by more than 100 semi-trailer trucks that haul fuel from the nearby Holly Oil. Rail and mass transit lines in the area also presented challenges, but in the end, none of the obstacles could prevent Geneva Rock Products from getting the job done.

The corridor was in desperate need of a widening and repair. High use of the roadway, particularly by heavy truck, made it a perfect candidate to become a concrete corridor.

This project, which included a total of 8.75 lane miles of 10 in. concrete pavement, was constructed in four different phases. The first phase involved utility work. The three successive phases all involved concrete paving.

Right of way was a major challenge, and so the paving had to be completed in unconventional ways. Three quarters of the roadway width was paved, and then, the contractor returned to pave the last quarter after the right of way was complete.

One of the most difficult parts of the project was constructing the pavement in front of the fueling depot for the Holly refinery. The depot is open 24 hours per day, seven days a week, and the facility’s operations absolutely could not be shut down. As such, the concrete placement had to be completed with multiple hand pours–15 in all–to allow trucks to move in and out of the station.