QUICK AND TO THE POINT

During the construction of two new lanes of highway on Iowa 141 in Dallas County in 1997, over 346,000 tons (313,891,200 kg) of material was produced and placed. Still, the project finished a year ahead of schedule and earned the contractor the 1999 Sheldon G. Hayes Award, which is given each year by the National Asphalt Pavement Association to the hot mix asphalt pavement judged the highest quality in the nation. The expansion, which took approximately 8 months and $8.1 million to finish, also included the reconstruction of nearly 2 mi (3 km) of the existing highway at two separate locations, the relocation of a curve, and the building of an interchange. There were no incentives for finishing early, but the contractor did receive $110,000 in incentives for smoothness. The job was an example of the polished version of Iowa's quality management asphalt program developed 5 years ago. In the past, Iowa's department of transportation handled all tests on the pavement, and it was a bit time consuming. The quality management asphalt program, however, places the testing in the hands of the contractors. In this case, the contractor pulled four hot-box samples and monitored cold feeds daily, ran them to its own lab, and had results within hours. By conserving precious time, contractors were able to spot problems through the testing and make changes immediately.