UPCOMING EVENTS T&DI Boston Chapter Webinar NEWS November 18, 2015 Southeastern Massachusetts Committee Event A MONTHLY PUBLICATION OF THE BOSTON SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS SECTION/ASCE November 19, 2015 ASCE and BSCES Sponsored Seminar VOL. 40 | NO. 3 | NOVEMBER 2015 SEI Boston Chapter/Structures November 19 & 20, 2015 COPRI and EWRI Boston Chapters Event MassDOT Route 128/Interstate 95 Add-A-Lane December 1, 2015 T&DI Boston Chapter and Younger Member Westwood-Dedham-Needham, MA (Part 1) Group Event December 3, 2015 by Larry Cash, PE, MassDOT Project Manager; Malek Al-Khatib, PE, The Louis Berger Group, Inc. EWRI Boston Chapter Workshops Project Manager; Daniel Deng, PE, The Louis Berger Group, Inc. Project Engineer December 8 & 15, 2015 ASCE and BSCES Sponsored Seminar Route 128 / Interstate 95 is considered the December 10 & 11, 2015 second busiest stretch of highway in Massa­ Younger Member Group Holiday Party chusetts. The Massachusetts Department of December 10, 2015 Transportation (MassDOT) has implemented Further Details Inside the roadway widening program called Add­A­ Lane project to alleviate the traffic congestion along the Route 128 / Interstate 95 starting from Route 24 in Braintree, through the Towns of Canton, Westwood, Dedham, and Needham and ending at Route 9 in Wellesley. 2015–16 Corporate Sponsors: Louis Berger was selected by MassDOT to provide the design and construction phase services of three miles of roadway widening and seven bridges reconstruction along Route 128/ Interstate 95 in the towns of Westwood, Dedham and Needham, This $80 million project involved the evaluation of various construction alternatives to facilitate main­ tenance of four lanes of traffic during peak hours along the Route 128 corridor. The proposed construction will include: (a) incorporation of a continued on page 2 Close-up aerial view President’s Report by Ellen P. White, PE, Senior Program Manager, Patrick Engineering Inc. The overall theme of this The US House of Representatives has officially conference committee. It is hoped that a month’s newsletter is Structures. approved the Surface Transportation Reauthori­ compromise bill will emerge and be passed by The Structural Engineering zation & Reform (STRR) Act of 2015, a six­ November 20, which is the date that the short­ Institute (SEI) Boston Chapter year bipartisan bill that will provide flat­level term extension expires. A concern is that the bill is the featured technical insti­ funding. The $325 billion bill was approved by will only continue the status quo and not tute, the biennial structural a vote of 363­64. A last­minute amendment was increase funding levels needed to address lecture series recently concluded, added to STRR that secured an additional $40 infrastructure needs. and this issue offers several structural­themed billion in revenue from an unused Federal The funding gap is growing and our aging articles. There are, however, several other Reserve account. This means that even though infrastructure needs greater investment. To find important items that I would like to highlight this bill is funded for six years, it does not out more about the condition of our including the first Charles C. Ladd Memorial increase highway and transit funding over infrastructure and the cost to consumers, read Lecture and developments at the national level current amounts. This bill must now be on transportation funding. reconciled with the Senate’s DRIVE Act in a continued on page 9 117 Kendrick Street, Suite 400 PROUD SPONSOR OF BSCES Needham, MA 02494 | www.louisberger.com 2015–16 BSCES BoardNEWS of Government NEWS 2 President: Ellen P. White, PE President-Elect: Brian A. Morgan, Esq., LEED AP Secretary: Christopher “Topher” Smith, PE MassDOT Add-A-Lane Treasurer: Robert L. Leger, PE continued from page 1 Assistant Treasurer: Gregory L. Mirliss, PE Senior Vice Presidents: fourth travel lane within median; (b) addition of Malek A. Al-Khatib, PE; Geoffrey B. Schwartz, PE 10­foot shoulder in each direction; (c) Vice Presidents: replacement of seven bridges and three Richard D. Maher, PE, PMP, LEED AP; Bruce L. Jacobs, PhD, PE interchanges; (d) improve quality of storm water Past President: Ali Touran, PhD, PE runoff; (e) noise wall installation; (f) overhead Western MA Branch Vice President: Vacant sign replacements; and (g) will be required to Institute Chapter & Technical Group Chairs maintain four travel lanes traffic during peak COPRI Boston Chapter: Lauren S. Klonsky, PE hour throughout the construction. Construction Institute Boston Chapter: Daniel R. Cook, PE Three interchanges within the project limits are Rock inspection Engineering Management Group: Kevin M. Garvey, PE namely Great Plain Avenue (GPA) over Route EWRI Boston Chapter: Matthew Hodge, PE 128/Interstate 95, a trumpet interchange at the Geo-Institute: Jonathan P. Davies, PE north limit; Route 135 under Route 128/ SEI Boston Chapter: Peter M Keeping, PE Interstate 95, a trumpet interchange in the T&DI Boston Chapter: Todd M. Clark, PE middle; and Route 109 over Route 128/Interstate Younger Member Group: Cara Pirkey, EIT 95, a divided full clover leaf interchange at the south limit. In addition, there is a salt shed and a BSCES Newsletter Editorial Board correction facility located in the median area Chair: Michael R. Cunningham, PE, [email protected] south of Route 135 interchange separating the Bonnie Ashworth, [email protected] roadway of northbound and southbound. Ronald Burns, PE, LSP, LEED AP, [email protected] John C. Cavanaro, PE, [email protected] The replacement of seven bridges at four Richard F. Keenan, [email protected] locations from north to south includes: Great David M. Manugian, PE, [email protected] Plain Avenue. Charles River, Route 135, and Rock stabilization Angus J. O’Leary, EIT, [email protected] Route 109. Great Plain Avenue Bridge is an Anthony M. Puntin, PE, [email protected] overpass which will be demolished and Peter A. Richardson, PE, LEED AP, ENV SP, CFM reconstructed at the early stage of the project. • Demolish and reconstruct eastern portion of [email protected] Both Charles River and Route 135 Bridges for Route 128 SB Brides over Route 135 and the Matthew I. Shuman, PE, [email protected] Route 128 NB & SB will require stage demolition Charles River Christopher “Topher” Smith, PE, [email protected] and construction for bridge superstructure and • Demolish and reconstruct western portion of Ellen P. White, PE, [email protected] substructure to maintain 4 lanes traffic on Route Route 128 NB Bridges over Route 135 and 128/Interstate 95. Route 109 Bridges, two the Charles River separate span over Route 128 NB and SB, is also an overpass which will be constructed in two • Construct temporary Route 128 SB over stages as it is a major connector roadway between Route 135 and Route 128 NB, SB cross over Boston Society of Civil Engineers Section/ASCE Westwood and Dedham. roadways The Engineering Center, One Walnut Street , Boston, MA 02108 Construction Stage 2 Phone: 617/227-5551, Fax: 617/227-6783 The major design challenge is to maintain four lanes of traffic during peak hours to • Shift Route 128 SB traffic onto east and Email: [email protected], Website: www.bsces.org temporary SB roadways maintaining two 12­ Executive Director: Anthony M. Puntin, PE accommodate the traffic of the on/off ramps at the interchange as well as the configuration of foot travel lanes and two 1­foot shoulders on each roadway BSCES’ newsletter, BSCESNews, is designed to provide information and opinion the existing bridges. An extensive study and in regard to the subject matter covered. BSCES and its Board assume no evaluation were performed by our experienced • Demolish and construct western portion of responsibility for statements made or opinions expressed in this publication. staff to conclude that the project will need to be Route 128 SB bridges over Route 135 and the It is published with the understanding that the Board and the authors are not engaged in rendering legal, accounting or other professional services. constructed in four stages to meet the design Charles River If assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should requirements. In addition, a temporary bridge • Construct final Route 128 SB roadways be sought. The Newsletter Editorial Board encourages reproduction of and a temporary crossover roadway need to be westerly portion and SB ramps connection at BSCESNews with appropriate acknowledgment. © 2015 BSCESNews. constructed to allow for the northbound traffic Great Plain Avenue and Route 135 to travel on the southbound lanes or vice versa Construction Stage 3 during different construction stages. • Relocate temporary bridge over Route 135 to Construction Stage 1 temporary NB roadway over Route 135 • Shift Route 128 SB traffic west and Route 128 • Construct portion of temporary NB roadway NB traffic east to allow the construction of at crossing and at temporary bridge approaches median widening from Charles River Bridge to northern limit of work • Demolish and reconstruct Great Plain Avenue continued on page 3 Bridge NEWS NOVEMBER 2015 | SEI Boston Chapter/Structures 3 MassDOT Add-A-Lane to remove the unstable portion; installing rock anchors doweled into the rock mass underneath; continued from page 2 or applying shotcrete along the rock seams. • Shift Route 128 NB traffic onto west lanes Due to geometric constraints, the temporary and temporary NB roadways maintaining two northbound roadway, with an approximate 12­foot travel lanes and two 1­foot shoulders length of 500 feet, needs to be constructed with on each roadway a steep slope at 1H:1V versus typical 2H:1V for • Demolish and reconstruct eastern portion of the roadway embankment. A reinforced slope Route 128 NB Bridges over Route 135 and treatment was developed and designed to the Charles River mitigate the global instability due to steep slope. • Construct final Route 128 NB roadway and Reinforced slope stability analysis was performed NB ramp connections at Route 135 to account for a 45­degree slope and a maximum Steep embankment slope Construction Stage 4 embankment of 32 feet.