NIOSH Supply Chain Project: New Highway – Heavy Design-Build

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Virginia Tech. Center for Innovation in Construction Safety, Health, and Well-being
• Description:
  Overview: The project involved in this case study was the construction of a 6.9 mile stretch of the Intercounty Connector. The Intercounty Connector, or ICC, is an 18.8 mile tollway that connects two major highways in Maryland. The particular stretch of the ICC featured in this case study is known as Contract B. Contract B crosses environmentally sensitive wetlands and forests, which necessitated extra planning and implementing design features to minimize the impact on the local ecosystems. Context: A new tollway was being constructed to link two larger highways and alleviate congestion problems by diverting traffic from smaller streets. The new highway was divided up into five separate contracts. The contract featured in this study, Contract B, traverses through sensitive environments as well as quiet residential areas. Environmentally-friendly design and construction practices were important to the client and the rest of the project team and taken into consideration from the earliest stages of design. Additionally, with the amount of vehicle traffic and equipment movement along the construction corridor, worker safety was important especially for those near or on the haul roads and temporary bridges. Objectives: In order to minimize disruption to the local ecosystems, the highway itself was designed with sustainability in mind. Sound barriers were set up along the corridor to lower noise levels near residential areas. Wildlife fences and escape ramps were also erected to keep deer and other small animals from wandering into the highway area. Local species, such as box turtles, were found and safely relocated from the highway corridor before construction began. For segments of the highway that crossed wetlands, culverts were installed. Trees that needed to be removed were handled in a way where they could be relocated to other areas for future projects (Wagman, n.d.). Since the haul road was only one lane, it was an important safety decision to use flagmen, signage, and reliable communication to let workers and drivers know of any approaching vehicles or other obstacles. Temporary barriers and additional signage was used in areas where construction vehicles would enter and exit the site on public roads where local traffic was present. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Case Reports Construction Industry Engineering Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Case Studies Construction Industry Ecological Systems Engineering Controls Environmental Control Road Construction
• Publisher:
  Innovation Center for Construction Safety and Health at Virginia Tech
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Case Studies
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-15
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20061863
• Citation:
  Blacksburg, VA: Innovation Center for Construction Safety and Health at Virginia Tech, 2015 May; :1-15
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2015
• Performing Organization:
  Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20090901
• Source Full Name:
  NIOSH supply chain project: new highway - heavy design-build
• End Date:
  20150131
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b67d6f52ffe2731b0a29ddeaff6bc4565be4d9341b4d656d9e2bda65026bc00737c217857bad63af398ef094aa6ffce850bf30c5fefe078ed4932cedd6afac79
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/225221/cdc_225221_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 472.33 KB ]