Page 36 • June 16, 2021 • www.constructionequipmentguide.com • Paving Section • Construction Equipment Guide
Revolutionizing Missouri’s Ditch Liners How 1,000 Lbs. of Spinning Metal Remade Ditch Liner Industry Near the Kansas City International Airport lies a welltraveled stretch of road that connects NE Cookingham Drive to I435. A 20-mi. 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 construction site was home to a 24ft.-wide, 1,000-lb. rolling tube of steel. And a real head-turner it was. Nature of 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 Department 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 heavyduty 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. The 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 preshaped paved flumes to carry the
Curb Roller Manufacturing created a 24-ft.-wide custom drum to complete a Missouri ditch liner project. Realm Construction poured 400 to 450 linear ft. of concrete a day and finished the project more than one week ahead of schedule.
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 maintenance problem and finally found a permanent answer as part of a large concrete patching job on the roadway. Search for Solution In the early summer of 2019, Realm Construction was subcontracted to patch the concrete on Cookingham Drive and the onramp to I-435. Russ Stark, manager of field operations, 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 timeframe. 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-ft. bay, skip a 20-ft. area, pour another 20-ft. 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 investment 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 its 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 of Fairview, Kan., has been serving all industries from landscapers to government entities for more than 10 years. When Realm Construction approached them with the custom request, they were eager to engineer a solution. The contractors also were ready to begin the project, but delivering an oversized custom drum to a job site had its obstacles. First, Stark had to get approval from MoDOT to implement this unique equipment and process. He presented his case, highlighting the potential for a better finished product and a significantly improved timeline. Matt Daulton, MoDOT resident engineer of the project, reviewed Stark’s proposal and approved with one stipulation — using the Curb Roller couldn’t increase the overall cost of the project. “We try to encourage innovation on every project,” Daulton said. “I had never seen something like this, but our contractors and manufacturers in the industry often have new ideas and the best answers. So, we were open to it.” After gaining clearance from
MoDOT, Stark and his team had to work with the grading and excavation subcontractor who was preparing the ditch. The original design of the ditch, before implementing the Curb Roller idea, included varying widths and a flat bottom. This approach would save grading and excavating costs on a traditional concrete project, but the Curb Roller method would require a consistent width to successfully lay concrete. Stark was convinced that the extra cost in grading and excavating would make up for itself in the time savings down the line. “I knew that this would create a more uniform product, which would be easier for MoDOT maintenance to clean out,” Stark said. “The original cross section of the ditch had varying slope widths and lengths through the entire 1,600foot-long ditch liner. So, we had to get the grading team to adjust and create a consistent canvas for the concrete.” While the grading and excavating teams prepared the base, Stark worked with Curb Roller Manufacturing to design and craft the perfect flume drum. What a Drum It Was Kraig Pyle, general manager of Curb Roller Manufacturing, worked with Stark throughout the planning process. While the company specializes in custom drums, it had never designed something of this magnitude before. “We had designed drums as long and as large in diameter, but never with this kind of combination,” Pyle said. “This was so impressive because it had such a large pan and slope wings. We know the capabilities of our product and we were confident taking on this challenge. We knew that with a few adjustments and alterations, we could pull this off and save the contractor time and labor.” Stark officially submitted his order to Curb Roller Manufacturing: a 24- ft. wide, 1,000-lb. hollow rolling flume drum. He calculated the required slope of the sides of the ditch according to MoDOT requirements. Each wing section of the see DITCH page 40
