Skip to main content

New York to replace fill at site of collapsed I-88 culvert

Yesterday, NYSDOT announced that they will begin a construction project to replace 8,500 cubic yards of polystyrene fill that was used in an emergency repair of the Interstate near Sidney. The fill was used in a project to replace a collapsed concrete culvert and 175 feet of washed out roadway that occurred last June. The collapse of the highway killed two truck drivers.

The issue this time is that the Styrofoam fill is settling and not holding up to design standards. The fill was used along the embankment and as a layer between the culvert and asphalt roadway. According to NYSDOT officials, there is no issue with the new concrete culvert, but the fill was not holding up well.

The polystyrene fill will be replaced by an "expanded shale" fill. The fill will come from a process that heats shale rock to 1000 degrees. A description by the DOT of the expanded shale is "The layers in the rock expand like popcorn and are baked by the heat, producing a material that is light, stable and strong."

On top of the fill will be three feet of asphalt.

Construction on the $1.1 million project starts Monday and should continue through July. Traffic on I-88 will be limited to one lane in each direction during the fill replacement. I-88 Exit 10 Eastbound will also be temporarily closed during the project. All Eastbound Exit 10 traffic will be detoured to Exit 11.

Story: I-88 section to be rebuilt again ---Albany Times-Union

Photos from Doug Kerr:

Westbound on I-88 approaching the repair site. (April 22, 2007)

Interstate 88 East approaching Exit 10 and the site of the replaced culvert. (April 22, 2007)

Again Eastbound at the site of the culvert. The NY 7 guide sign is new as the guide sign standing on the day of the collapse fell into Carrs Creek. (April 22, 2007)

Repairs to the damaged culvert were still underway in September 2006. I-88 was reopened to one lane traffic in each direction two weeks earlier. (September 16, 2006)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Old River Lock & Control Structure (Lettsworth, LA)

  The Old River Control Structure (ORCS) and its connecting satellite facilities combine to form one of the most impressive flood control complexes in North America. Located along the west bank of the Mississippi River near the confluence with the Red River and Atchafalaya River nearby, this structure system was fundamentally made possible by the Flood Control Act of 1928 that was passed by the United States Congress in the aftermath of the Great Mississippi River Flood of 1927 however a second, less obvious motivation influenced the construction here. The Mississippi River’s channel has gradually elongated and meandered in the area over the centuries, creating new oxbows and sandbars that made navigation of the river challenging and time-consuming through the steamboat era of the 1800s. This treacherous area of the river known as “Turnbull’s Bend” was where the mouth of the Red River was located that the upriver end of the bend and the Atchafalaya River, then effectively an outflow

Interstate 10S and the original Interstate 110 in California

Interstate 10S is a short spur of Interstate 10 along San Bernardino Freeway in downtown Los Angeles.  Interstate 10S begins at the Santa Ana Freeway (US Route 101) and extends east to Interstate 5 where it merges into mainline Interstate 10.  Interstate 10S is one of the oldest freeway segments in Los Angeles having been part of US Routes 60, 70 and 99 when it was part of the corridor of the Ramona Expressway.  The current corridor of Interstate 10S was assigned as Chargeable Corridor H following the passage of the 1956 Federal Highway Aid Act.  Interstate 110 was a short-lived designation which comprised the segment San Bernardino Freeway from US Route 101 to Interstate 5 between 1964-1968.  The original Interstate 110 was dropped as a Chargeable Corridor during 1965 and consolidated as Interstate 10S during 1968.   The original Interstate 110 can be seen as the blog cover photo as it was featured on the 1964 Division of Highways Map.  Below the entire 0.65-mile length of Interstate

Vicksburg Bridge (Vicksburg, MS)

  Located a few hundred feet downriver from the Old Vicksburg Bridge, the Vicksburg Bridge, or the “New” Bridge, serves as the city’s vehicular crossing of the Mississippi River on the main highway connecting Vicksburg with northeastern Louisiana to the west and the state capital of Jackson to the east. The completion of the original Vicksburg Bridge in 1930 was seen as a huge success and the bridge proved to be a profitable entity for both road and railroad interests along the path of the Dixie Overland Highway and the subsequent US Highway 80 corridor. In the years after the creation of the National Interstate Highway System, planning commenced on a new bridge at the site that would relieve the congestion on the existing bridge while providing for a more modern crossing of the river that would be safe for all vehicles. The construction of the new bridge at Vicksburg was completed in 1973 and its design intentionally mimics that of its predecessor nearby. This was due in large part