The Anniston Eastern Bypass project, which rerouted US 431, garnered NAPA’s highest paving quality honor for Alabama DOT and McCartney Construction Co.McCartney Construction Company and the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) have received a top honor from the National Asphalt Pavement Association – the 2017 Sheldon G. Hayes Award.
The award, bestowed annually since 1971, recognizes the country’s highest quality highway pavements.
The work was for paving for the Anniston Eastern Bypass in Alabama, which involved rerouting US 431 around the eastern side of the city. The award focused on the final phase in a series of projects, Dejarvis Leonard, East Central Region Engineer for ALDOT, tells Equipment World.
More than a decade of work was completed in 2017 to build the bypass that helped ease traffic congestion caused by more than 40,000 vehicles a day on U.S. 431 through downtown Anniston, according to Leonard. He notes that the work spanned though Fort McClellan after the Army closed the base, using existing right-of-way.
Estimated costs for the last phase of the 3.7 mile project are now $14.64 million, though some costs are still pending. An overall price tag for the entire project is expected to be between $90 million and $100,000 million, according to an ALDOT spokeswoman.
Leonard and George H. Connor, deputy director of Operations for ALDOT, accepted the award along with McCartney Construction owners and their management team during a Feb. 14 ceremony. That was on the final day of NAPA’s 63rd annual meeting in San Diego, which was attended by about 900 members.
“ALDOT’s very appreciative and thankful for this well-deserved recognition of the work done by McCartney Construction and the project management and inspection of Alabama DOT,” Conner tells Equipment World.
Praise from Alabama’s governor
During the ceremony, a video was played of Alabama Governor Kay Ivey congratulating ALDOT and McCartney Construction on the award.
“It’s my great pleasure to congratulate McCartney Construction Company, Inc. from Gadsden, Alabama for winning the 2017 Sheldon G. Hayes Award for the Anniston Eastern Bypass,” the governor, in a written statement, tells Equipment World.
“I’m very proud of the hard work of this company and its 170 employees. McCartney Construction is further proof that the great state of Alabama strives for excellence in all we do.”
McCartney Co. Company and Alabama DOT getthe Sheldon B. Hayes award at the NAPA 2018 Annual Meeting in San Diego on Wednesday, Feb 14, 2018. Photo by Gary Fong/Genesis PhotosThe McCartney Construction Company was founded in 1945 in Gadsden, Alabama, by M.H. McCartney.
The company is now owned and operated by his son, M.B. McCartney, and two grandsons, Michael and Tim. They also own a sister company, Calhoun Asphalt Company.
An intensive evaluation process
The Sheldon G. Hayes Award winner and finalists are determined through a two-year evaluation process. All highway pavement projects using more than 50,000 tons of asphalt are eligible for consideration.
The award is named for Sheldon G. Hayes, a founder of NAPA and the association’s first chairman. Hayes spent his entire career striving for better construction techniques and improvements in the quality of asphalt pavements, the association says.
Initially, the project must win a Quality in Construction (QIC) Award, which is determined by numerical scores given by pavement engineers at the National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) on the basis of how well the contractor met specifications and achieved density on the finished pavement. All the pavements that meet a benchmark figure earn the QIC Award, a press release explains.
The year after a project wins a QIC Award, it is eligible for consideration for the Sheldon G. Hayes Award.
An evaluator praises smooth, safe, durable pavements
The top-ranked projects from each year are tested for smoothness. Then, they are visually inspected by a highly experienced independent pavement consultant. This year, the evaluator praised all the candidates for their high-quality construction practices, which resulted in smooth, safe, and durable pavements.
“The asphalt pavement industry is committed to building quality pavements that deliver high performance and drivability to the public,” says Dan Gallagher, NAPA 2017 chairman.
Finalists for the award were Lindy Paving Inc. and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission for work on I-76 in Allegheny County; and Walsh & Kelly Inc. and the Indiana Department of Transportation for US 41 in St. John, Indiana.
