Ready to Roll How 1,000 pounds of spinning metal changed the Missouri ditch liner industry
Near the Kansas City International Airport lies a well-traveled stretch of road that connects NE Cookingham Drive to I-435. A 20-mile jaunt separates the airport from downtown Kansas City, and while some drivers might make their way via the direct I-29 route, others choose the I-435 route that might take a little longer but sees less traffic. If drivers happened to take the Cookingham/I-435 route during late summer 2019, they may have caught a glimpse of an impressive road construction project and some never-before-seen equipment. The con- struction site was home to a 24-foot-wide, 1,000-pound rolling tube of steel, and a real head-turner it was. The Nature of the Problem The onramp that connects Cookingham Drive to I-435 appears to the naked eye to be a standard ramp, but the positioning of the onramp and the surrounding area were causing headaches for the Missouri Depart- ment of Transportation (MoDOT). A field that runs parallel to the ramp often produces significant rainwater runoff that makes its way onto the onramp. In a usual case, rainwater and subsequent runoff don’t pose huge issues for highways and ramps, but this was a different story. Sedimentary dirt and debris filled the south side of the ditch and the onramp. As the ditch filled up with sediment and dirt carried by the runoff, the material would spill over onto the south lane of the onramp. This presented slippery, dangerous situations for drivers heading for the interstate at 55-60 mph. To combat the issue, MoDOT maintenance crews used heavy-duty equipment to tackle the buildup, closing the onramp every few years to clear the ditch and roadway with skid steers, track hoes and several haul trucks. Last time they cleaned it, they shut down the onramp for two days to complete the cleaning. This method solved the problem temporarily but created headaches for drivers and a lot of unnecessary work for crews. MoDOT tried incorporating pre-shaped paved flumes to carry the rainwater, but the flumes filled up just as quickly as the unpaved ditch and required just as much cleaning. MoDOT contemplated installing a rock-based lining, but research showed the quickly accumulating rainwater would likely carry the rocks away. MoDOT continued to search for a viable solution to address the main- tenance problem and finally found a permanent answer as part of a large concrete patching job on the roadway. Finding a Unique Solution In the early summer of 2019, Realm Construction was subcontracted to patch the concrete on Cookingham Drive and the onramp to I-435. Manager of Field Operations Russ Stark and his team specialize in concrete patchwork. They completed that portion of the job and then sat down to find a way to tackle the ditch liner, which was a concrete project they were less familiar with.
Stark, who has worked for Realm for more than 11 years, needed to find a solution that would stay within the budget and the assigned time frame. The mission was to essentially line the ditch with concrete, and Stark initially only knew of one conventional method to accomplish it. That method was to form the ditch in a sectional approach. This could be done either by pouring the bottom concrete and pulling a tube or screed up by hand, or pouring it transverse — coming down the slope to the bottom and then back up. Crews would pour one 20-foot bay, skip a 20-foot area, pour another 20-foot bay and so on. The next day, after the bays dried, crews could fill in the alternating empty areas. While this method is inexpensive and proven, it is time consuming and physically taxing. “If we approached this project the conventional way, we’d only be able to pour about four bays a day, which is 80 feet of ditch liner a day,” Stark said. “At that rate, the project would have taken us 15-20 days. I knew we could do it quicker than that.” Stark’s ultimate solution would include an approach that might end up with a higher initial equipment cost. But could that additional invest- ment in equipment end up saving him time and money? Stark proposed commissioning a large metal flume drum from Curb Roller Manufacturing. The company is known for their hydraulic- and battery-powered concrete roller screeds, but also manufactures custom- sized rolling drums. The drums are commonly used for pouring streets, medians, v-gutters or flumes, and while the company prides itself on creating custom solutions, this drum exceeded the size of any created in the past. “I had seen a ditch liner drum on a different project a year prior and asked the contractor — Clarkson Construction — who made it,” Stark said. “It was only about 14 feet wide and I knew we’d need something nearly double that size. But I thought it could work.” Curb Roller Manufacturing created a 24-foot-wide custom drum to complete a Missouri ditch liner project. Realm Construction poured 400-450 linear feet of concrete a day and finished the project more than one week ahead of schedule.
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January 2021
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