Walsh Downtown Crossing Project
Walsh Downtown Crossing Project
Paving the Way to Better Roads with Louisville’s Downtown Crossing Project Walsh Construction takes on I-65 traffic and Spaghetti Junction as part of the Louisville-Southern Indiana Ohio River Bridges Project Written by: Sasha Orman Produced by: Tom Venturo
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Downtown Kennedy Bridges
L
ouisville is a lively modern city with a challenging traffic problem. Built against the banks of the Ohio River, with only limited options of the I-64 and the I-65 bridges to cross the river to and from neighboring Indiana, traffic congestion is a constant problem for residents and commuters on both sides. That congestion is complicated even further by the tangled Kennedy Interchange— 4
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known locally as “Spaghetti Junction”—where the I-64, I-65, and I-71 merge on the Louisville side of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Bridge that currently carries the I-65 over the Ohio River to Jeffersonville, Indiana. In an attempt to solve this traffic problem, Kentucky and Indiana launched the Ohio River Bridges Project to build new pathways across the river and refurbish
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Downtown Kennedy Bridge
existing bridges. Chicago-based Walsh Construction Co. was selected to take on the ambitious $860 million Downtown Crossing project, which will add a new six-lane bridge to the I-65 crossing and streamline the Kennedy Interchange. Improving piece by piece The Downtown Crossing project will reconfigure the I-65 Ohio River crossing in a quite significant way. “Eventually we are going to have a new bridge that will carry six lanes of I-65 northbound
“The number one priority on any Walsh job is safety: we try and instill this in our workforce and everybody that comes to the job” – Joel Halterman, Project Manager
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traffic,” says Joel Halterman, Walsh Construction Project Manager for the Downtown Crossing project. “Then we are going to rehab the existing I-65 bridge to carry six lanes of southbound traffic. Essentially, we will be doubling the lanes across the river by the end of our project. It’s a massive project and it covers a lot of area, a big footprint.” To manage the scope of the project effectively, Walsh Group broke the Downtown Crossing project into three distinct sections—the “Spaghetti Junction” Kennedy Interchange section, the new bridge itself, and the section on the other side of the Ohio River where I-65 northbound drivers will land in Indiana. “We have Sections One, Two, and Three—with Section One in Kentucky, Section Two over the
SUPPLIER PROFILE
Joel Halterman, Project Manager
CHICAGO JACK
CJS, Chicago Jack has been in business for over 50 years. Beginning with hydraulic lifting equipment, CJS has expanded its products and services to incorporate a broad line of hydraulic, mechanical, pneumatic tools and equipment as well as safety products. Our mission is to specify, recommend and deliver quality products for safe use and operation. In addition, we offer in house safety seminars on the safe care and use of lifting products. We also inspect, certify and repair like products. Website: www.chicagojack.com
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Design-Build? No Problem!
Louisville Downtown Crossing
15,000 + Tons of Fabricated Steel, 20 + Plate Girder Bridges
Stupp Bridge Company is a leader in steel plate girder bridge fabrication. Our Bowling Green, Kentucky manufacturing facility is AISC certified to Bridge Fabrication- Advanced (Major), with Fracture Critical and Sophisticated Paint Endorsements. The best bridges are Stupp-Built! w w w. s t u p p b r i d g e . c o m Phone: 314-638-5000 3800 Weber Road | St. Louis, MO 63125
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river, and Section Three in Indiana,” says Halterman. “We set the project up that way, where each section has its own management team. We all come together and there’s a lot of close coordination between the sections, but it is almost like three separate projects for us.”
the foundations, and 300,000 tons of asphalt,” says Halterman.
Placing a priority on safety: the Walsh way “The number one priority on any Walsh job is safety: we try and instill this in our workforce and everybody that comes to the job,” says Facing the challenges of Halterman. “For every employee construction that we have, our goal is that they With a signature six-lane bridge co- come and make a good living on the designed by Jacobs Engineering, job site, do a good job and go home featuring three sets of twin towers at the end of the day in the same and a cable stay structure to condition that they showed up in the highlight rather than impose on the morning. That’s what we strive for Louisville skyline, Section Two is every day.” the centerpiece of the Downtown From project to project, Walsh Crossing project. As strong and Group employs different methods to functional as it is visually stunning, uphold and enforce its prioritization the bridge will be supported with of safety. The Downtown Crossing 30,000 cubic yards of concrete, project, undertaken in a relatively 8 million pounds of rebar, and 12 new project area for Walsh, employs million pounds of structural steel. many workers who have never But Section One is unquestionably worked with the company before, the largest and most complicated putting the emphasis on quality section of the project, training above all. encompassing half of the project as “For every employee that comes a whole. “There are over 40 different through the job site, the first day is bridges on that section of the job, 21 an orientation,” says Halterman, MSE walls—plus 700,000 yards of explaining that this initial orientation fill, 500,000 feet of steel h-piling for consists of a 10 hour OSHA training kyinbridges.com/downtown-crossing
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session to get everyone up to speed on safety protocol tailored to the unique components of the Downtown Crossing project. In addition to this initial orientation, Walsh Group also offers a gamut of supplemental training seminars to its employees— to the point where the business has set up a dedicated safety trainingfocused conference room for the Downtown Crossing project. As Halterman explains, with the safety and well-being of hundreds at stake, that training is not limited to full time Walsh employees or subcontractors. Because every person involved with the project has 10
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the potential to interact with and affect operations, no one steps onto the Downtown Crossing job site without completing the initial 10 hour OSHA training session. “If we have 600 employees working here, I’d venture to say well over 1000 people in total have been through our safety orientation,” says Halterman. The benefits of growth The effort expended constructing the Ohio River Bridges projects is great, but the benefits that residents and businesses will stand to gain after completion is even greater. The Downtown Crossing project is
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expected to bring substantial improvements to congestion, especially the intense backup that tends to happen at rush hour. “It’s really the mobility across the river—for a river town, Louisville has limited river crossings here,” Halterman explains. “This will improve cross-river mobility, and really it’s going to improve congestion and it’s going to be a safer system.” The expected results of the work done on Section One in particular will be instrumental in improving traffic safety for drivers in Louisville. “There’s a lot of weaving where the interstates come together. Drivers have a short distance to make a choice, and may have to move over across three lanes,” says Halterman, explaining the dangerous maneuvers that many drivers have to make every day to navigate Spaghetti Junction as it stands today. “We’re taking a lot of that out with the new design of the interchange. That was a big motivation for the work in Section One.” Awarded the project in December of 2012, Walsh Construction broke ground on the Downtown Crossing project in July 2013. Two years later, the Louisville Downtown Bridge is 60 percent complete and on schedule for launch at the beginning of 2016—including refurbishment of the Kennedy Bridge and completion of the entire project. With this, Kentucky and Indiana residents and visitors can look forward to smoother commutes and safer travels.
Company Information INDUSTRY
Construction/ Contracting HEADQUARTERS
100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucky USA, 40202 FOUNDED
2012 EMPLOYEES
600 BUDGET
$860 million PRODUCTS/ SERVICES
Construction/ Contracting
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WALSH DOWNTOWN CROSSING PROJECT 100 Witherspoon Street Louisville, Kentucky, USA, 40202 kyinbridges.com/downtown-crossing