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As the summer construction season swings into high gear, motorists trying to cruise the southeast side of Chicago will see Prairie ready-mix trucks everywhere, helping to rebuild the infrastructure and speed the construction process. Projects to rebuild and add lanes to the south end of the Tri-State Tollway (I294), rebuild and widen the Kingery Expressway (I80/94) to eight lanes from the Bishop Ford to the Indiana line, and complete reconstruction with bridge and interchange replacements on the Bishop Ford Freeway and I-394 from 159th Street south to Thornton-Lansing Road are all in progress this year. Prairie is providing the ready-mix and delivery expertise for six separate projects in the area teaming up with Lorig Construction Company, Walsh Construction and Dunnett Bay Construction. With more than 160,000 vehicles a day passing through this corridor, the logistics of pouring become a real challenge. “You can get stopped real quick in that area if anything goes wrong,” says Paul Blattner of Prairie Materials. Prairie is dedicating 100 trucks and three materials yards to these projects including temporary yards at 159th Street in South Holland and at394 and Glenwood Dyer Road to ensure timely delivery of ready mix. The Tollway Authority is converting to IDOT mixes for this project so the mix designs must meet the specifications of 30-year-life pavement. One of the more challenging aspects is the re-building of the Markham Yard bridge on I-80. More than 60 separate pours will be necessary to complete the sections with up to 30,000 yards of concrete placed this summer. Work on these projects continues through 2006 with bids going out next month for rebuilding I-294 from 95th Street south to 177th Street.
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