Both Lanes of US 24 Tennessee Pass to Open Friday Night at 7 PM

August 8, 2012 - CONSTRUCTION PROJECT UPDATE - Northwestern Colorado/CDOT Region 3 - EAGLE/LAKE COUNTIES — The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) will open the open both lanes of US 24 over Tennessee Pass this Friday, August 10 at 7 p.m.

Last week, crews opened one lane of the highway to alternating lanes of traffic, and with all work scheduled for completion Friday night, no further lane closures will be necessary near mile marker 165 between Leadville and Red Cliff.

“We are grateful to Hayward Baker, the contractor, for their hard work to make these repairs so quickly and efficiently,” said Matt Figgs, CDOT project engineer. “We want to thank the community of those impacted by the closure for their understanding and patience while we made these necessary safety repairs.”

To repair the sinkhole and the highway, Hayward Baker constructed a grout containment barrier on the north and south sides of the highway to contain the fill zone. A thinner grout material was then poured into the void and a pressurized grout was used to fill any remaining voids, which compressed the existing materials underneath the highway to strengthen the roadway platform. Once the void was stabilized, crews smoothed the existing road surface and paved a three inch layer of asphalt to create a seamless transition for motorists over the former sinkhole site.

Altogether, crews used 1,700 cubic yards of material to fill and stabilize the void beneath the highway, which required 190-200 full truckloads of material to be used. An average cement truck is able to hold roughly nine cubic yards of material altogether.

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