INNOVATIVE CONSTRUCTION

INDOT has implemented innovative, creative, and fiscally responsible solutions to get the most from
every dollar spent while enhancing safety and improving Indianas transportation infrastructure. INDOT
continues to find, explore and develop new ways to plan, finance and construct Indianas world-class
transportation systems.

Milton-Madison Bridge
A technologically innovative construction method will save time and millions of dollars during construction
of a new U.S. 421 bridge over the Ohio River between Milton, Ky., and
Madison, Ind. Using a method called truss sliding, a new 40-foot wide,
3,181-foot-long truss will be moved along steel rails and plates and slide
into place atop the existing piers, which will be rehabilitated. Opened in
1929, the original Milton-Madison steel truss bridge is only 20 feet wide -too narrow for modern traffic. Because of the innovative construction
method, the bridge will close for a total of only 10 days during construction,
rather than the originally 365-day closure. Low bid for the project was $103
million, 20 percent below the original $131 million construction estimate. Construction began in November
2010 and the new bridge will open to traffic this year.

Safety Edge
In 2011, INDOT incorporated safety edge into its construction specifications. Safety edge is a pavement
design that includes an edge treatment for asphalt and concrete roads that improves roadway and traffic
safety. Two-lane rural highways often have unpaved shoulders immediately adjacent to the paved
roadway. If roadway maintenance does not keep material against the pavement edge, a pavementshoulder drop-off may form. Drop-off heights can vary from less than an inch to six inches or more. When
a vehicle leaves the paved roadway and encounters a pavement-shoulder drop-off, the side of the tire
may scrub along the drop-off, resisting the drivers attempts to steer and make a smooth reentry to the
roadway. This resistance often leads to driver over-correcting, which may slingshot vehicles across the
road, resulting in serious traffic accidents. With safety edge, the pavement edge is formed at a sloped
angle to lessen the resistance of a tire to remounting the drop-off and allows vehicles a more controlled
reentry onto the roadway. INDOT is one of the first state departments of transportation to incorporate
safety edge into its design specifications.

Intelligent Compaction
INDOT incorporated a quality control/quality assurance soils project using
intelligent compaction into the U.S. 31 Kokomo Freeway project, which
opened to traffic in November 2013. Embankment contractor Fox
Construction used rollers equipped with sensors (accelerometers) that can
determine the relative stiffness of the soil to map the embankment as it is
constructed. The rollers also use Global Positioning System technology that
can determine the coverage of the rollers over the embankment area. In 2010, INDOT first used
intelligent compaction on the State Road 25 Hoosier Heartland project, making Indiana a leader among
states in implementing this new technology that enhances long-lasting pavement performance. Intelligent

compaction technology has been featured by the Federal Highway Administration on its Every Day
Counts Initiative website, which highlights innovative technologies and processes that shorten project
delivery, enhance the safety of the nations roadways, reduce costs, and protect the environment.

Alternate Bidding Process

INDOTs traditional bidding method in which INDOT developed plans and determined specifications,
then selected the lowest bidder left contractors with little room for offering alternative solutions or
bidding based on whats most economical. INDOT modified its bidding to encourage contractors to submit
alternative bids for selected projects. Among those modifications are:

Allowing contractors to bid with different materials, depending on the contractors best price. For
example, they can specify either asphalt or concrete for pavement, or concrete or steel for bridge
beams. This allows contractors to offer INDOT much more competitive pricing.
Design-build contracting, for which INDOT specifies end results and design parameters and
contractors develop proposals based on their individual construction capabilities.
Incentives and disincentives for meeting schedules. Contractors receive additional money for
completing work ahead of schedule and lose money for falling behind. This ensures that
contractors minimize traffic disruptions and meet deadlines.

Alternate Bidding has been used in two highly successful central Indiana projects: TheSouth Split project
which involved lowering the pavement on I-65 and I-70 in downtown Indianapolis, and the I465/Allisonville Road interchange reconstruction, which involvedreplacing a 42-year-old bridge and a
traditional diamond interchange with a Single-Point Urban Interchange. Both projects were completed
ahead of schedule using alternate bidding.

High-Performance Concrete
INDOT implemented a design change that cuts concrete roadbed repair costs by reducing the cost and
improving the performance of concrete pavement. In the past, concrete
slabs occasionally curled and warped after installation due to temperature
variations. This curling impacts pavement performance and leads to
premature mid-slab cracking. Conventional design solutions to this
problem called for the installation of thicker pavement to reduce mid-slab
cracks. Following a research project, INDOT and Purdue Universitys Joint
Transportation Research Program (JTRP) discovered that shorter joint
spacing can be used to reduce stresses in concrete slabs and prevent the
occurrence of transverse cracks. Reducing slab joint spacing resolves curling and premature cracking,
allowing for a reduction in thickness of the concrete roadbed. This solution reduced roadbed construction
and repair costs by $1.2 million in 2011 and is projected to save more than $2.4 million over the following
three years.

Replacing Nuclear Testing Equipment

INDOT engineers use nuclear gauges to perform soil compaction tests to measure soil density and water
content, the primary criteria in determining soil compaction quality. These devices, however, are
considered hazardous as they emit a beam of radiation particles. As a result, nuclear gauges require
licensing, regulatory permitting and considerable training when used to measure soil density. For these
reasons, INDOT funded a project with the JTRP at Purdue University to evaluate options to replace

nuclear gauges. Test results with the Dynamic Cone Penetration Test (DCPT) demonstrated that the
DCPT was effective in measuring density and water content of soils and could replace nuclear density
gauges in soil compaction. Furthermore, the DCPT was found to be faster, easier to operate, and able to
take deeper measurements than nuclear density gauges. As a result, a Recurring Special Provision using
the DCPT for soil compaction quality control was developed and is now used on INDOT construction
projects. More than 10,000 tests using DCPT have been performed. Projected annual savings for using
DCPT as a tool for soil compaction quality control rather than the nuclear testing equipment is $480,000
annually.