CONSTRUCTION FUNDAMENTALS MONTANA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION MAY, 1993 T£^t>.C^ 1^3 ROAD DESIGN FUNDAMENTALS - CONSTRUCTION FUNDAMENTALS COURSE OUTLINE I Introduction and Course Overview II General Construction Practices A. Contractor Practices B. End Result Specifications and Products III Contractor Sequence of Operations IV MDT Construction Crew Sequence of Operations V Detour Design A. Two Lane Detour B. Median Crossovers (Interstate) VI Traffic Control A. Lane Closures VII Contract Documents VIII Bid Items IX Summary X Course Review and Evaluations sak:constout Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2019 with funding from Montana State Library https://archive.org/details/constructionfund1993unse TABLE Of CONTENTS PAGE I Introduction 1 II General Construction Practices 3 A. Contractor Practices 3 B. End Result Specifications and Products 6 III Contractor Sequence of Operations 7 IV MDT Construction Crew Sequence of Operations 14 V Detour Design 18 A. Two Lane Detour 18 B. Median Crossovers (Interstate) 21 VI Traffic Control 21 A. Lane Closures 22 VII Contract Documents 23 VIII Bid Items 24 IX Summary 26 Appendix A and Appendix B: Assorted traffic control standard drawings and special provision examples. FOREWORD This booklet is meant to be used as a quick reference for many of the construction fundamentals that the road designer will encounter. It is not a substitute for on-site visits and/or discussions with MDT construction personnel and contractors. These visits and discussions are the best source of information for any particular road design project. This booklet provides some insight into the basic construction activities which take place during the building of the project. The methods and suggestions come from design and construction personnel and are provided as guidelines and examples for the designer to use in completion of the road design project. There are other equally valid methods and techniques not covered here. The designer is encouraged to review and evaluate all methods against his or her current design procedure. The user is encouraged to provide comments and suggestions on how to improve this course and the course contents. C\ . NOTES I INTRODUCTION This booklet is being presented for the road designer who may have very little construction experience. The course is set up to supply basic construction information to the designer so that he/she can produce a better set of plans and contract documents which will be more applicable to the MDT construction crew and the contractor. It has been stated that anything can be built on paper. In most cases, the paper design can also be built in the field. The biggest problem facing the designer is not putting the design on paper that the checker or another designer can understand, but putting a design on paper that the MDT construction crew and the contractor can understand. Far too many designs are approved by design personnel without getting input from the construction personnel. This problem is basically caused by a lack of communications. A lack of communication between the designer and the MDT construction personnel is caused by several factors: 1. Stereotypes- From the designer's point of view: the construction personnel don't understand the complex design process the designer must go through, especially with the new environmental concerns and new computer design we are using. They (construction personnel) have to understand that we had to jump through a lot of hoops to get the design completed, and they just can't change it during construction to fit their needs. From the construction personnel's point of view: the designer sits in that air-conditioned office playing with his new computer to come up with this road design. What they need to do is spend some time out here with us and learn how we really do it. Then they, might understand how we deal with traffic control, irate contractors and landowners, and how the real world operates! This us and them stereotype will not prove productive for either side. We fall of us and all of them) must start striving for better communications. This will allow the MDT team to produce better and more cost effective plans and will allow the plans and contract documents to reflect both design and construction 1 - ■