A new 2 mi. (3.2 km) long, four lane road is being built in the city of Honolulu on Hawaii’s Oahu island. New roadway construction of this size for the island state is very uncommon. Most road projects are replacement or widenings, simply because there is no room to build new.
Goodfellow Bros. Inc., based out of Wenatchee, Wash., with an office in Kihei, Hawaii, won the bid to build the project. It had no previous slipform experience and no slipforming equipment. When it started the process of looking for a concrete paver, it knew it wanted a machine that was versatile, large enough to pave roadway, but also small enough to work in Hawaii’s confined job-site areas. Ultimately, it chose the GOMACO four-track Commander III.
“We went with the Commander III because it will be more versatile on future projects,” Matt Heahlke, project manager of Goodfellow, said. “We can use it for highway slipforming, barrier walls, curb and gutter. We won’t have a large quantity job like this again. The projects will be smaller, more chopped up, and the Commander III is much more versatile for that.”
Its new Commander III is currently slipforming on the new North/South Road, phase 1B, which includes approximately 2,300 cu. yds. (1,758 cu m) of 10 in. (25.4 cm) thick concrete pavement. Work on the project began in January 2008 and it is scheduled for completion in January 2010.
When Goodfellow was purchasing equipment for its new concrete paving venture, it also added an RTP-500 rubber-tracked placer and a T/C-600 texture/cure machine. The RTP-500 was purchased as a concrete placer, but the company also has been utilizing its long reaching capabilities to back-fill its Keystone retaining and structural walls projects. It placed concrete for the first time on the brand new road.
“This is virgin construction through old sugar cane fields,” Heahlke explained. “The road is the new corridor servicing the future University of Hawaii West Campus and also the department of Hawaiian Homelands Housing Development. It’s extremely rare to have brand new road construction, because it’s such a limited area to begin with.”
Goodfellow is using the RTP-500 to place concrete onto the untreated permeable base. Dowel baskets are placed every 12.5 ft. (3.8 m) for the transverse joint. The concrete is a 650 flex mix design and provided by local producer, Island Ready-Mix. Dump trucks carry 10 cu. yd. (7.6 cu m) loads of concrete and dump into the RTP’s hopper. Concrete slump averages 2 in. (5 cm).
The Commander III is set up to slipform each lane at 12 ft. (3.7 m) wide, 10 in. (25.4 cm) thick. Production on the longer stretches of pavement averages around 120 cu. yds. (91.7 cu m) per hour during an eight-hour paving shift.
All of the paving is being done at night. This allows Goodfellow complete control of the batch plant to ensure it gets the volume of concrete necessary to feed the paving operation. It also creates cooler working conditions for the crew, while eliminating the worry of the concrete curing too fast and cracking because of extreme temperatures.
The Commander III also is being used to slipform the 8.5 ft. (2.6 m) wide concrete shoulders.
A T/C-600 texture/cure machine, set at 16 ft. (4.9 m) wide between its two tracks, follows behind the Commander III. It applies the state of Hawaii required AstroTurf drag, transverse tining, and SINAK lithium spray cure.
The state also has smoothness requirements. Hawaii utilizes the California profilograph and two-tenths blanking band to measure their project’s smoothness. A reading of a 10 or less ensures 100 percent pay on the project. Goodfellow has had no problems achieving good rideability.
“Overall, our rideability is very smooth,” Heahlke said. “This is Goodfellow’s first concrete slipform paving job and we’re very impressed with the GOMACO equipment. We’re definitely in the concrete paving business for good. We can’t wait to get more projects.”
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