{"id":2807,"date":"2024-12-27T18:57:11","date_gmt":"2024-12-27T18:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prairieprod.vcnastaging.com\/?p=2807"},"modified":"2024-12-27T19:03:28","modified_gmt":"2024-12-27T19:03:28","slug":"flying-colors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prairie.com\/fr\/flying-colors\/","title":{"rendered":"Flying colors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Traffic congestion causes real misery for commuters who rely on Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) buses that travel between train stations in the city\u2019s West Loop and the Michigan Avenue business district. The buses make more than 1,000 trips across the Loop daily \u2013 and with rush-hour speeds as slow as 3 miles per hour, an 8-block trip can take a whopping 45 minutes.<\/p>\n

Planners from Chicago\u2019s Department of Transportation, the CTA and the City of Chicago have come up with a plan to speed bus traffic while supporting pedestrians, bicyclists and car traffic. Known as the\u00a0LoopLink\u00a0<\/a>,\u00a0<\/strong>the $31.8-million project creates dedicated bus lanes on 4 arterial streets, where buses will make limited stops at train-like stations along the way. New, separated bike lanes on 3 of the routes will move cyclists safely through the Loop.\u200b<\/p>\n

Hot Weather Concreting<\/h2>\n

Don’t let the heat ruin your pour. Read our\u00a0brief summary\u00a0<\/a>to maximize the performance of your concrete.<\/p>\n

Designing for visibility and strength<\/h2>\n

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CNA Prairie teamed up with\u00a0Butterfield Color\u00a0<\/strong>, project designer\u00a0Alfred <\/strong>Benesch\u00a0<\/strong>,\u00a0CDOT\u00a0<\/strong>, and concrete contractor\u00a0Capitol Cement\u00a0<\/strong>to develop a unique red mix that would delineate bus-only concrete lanes on 14 blocks of Madison and Washington streets.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrairie performed 3 trial batches to get the look CDOT was after,\u201d says Capitol Cement Project Manager\u00a0Dan Melnyk\u00a0<\/strong>, who is overseeing the 1,400-yard job.<\/p>\n

Original mix specifications came from an exposed-aggregate mix developed for another project, which included specialty red-granite coarse aggregate, explains Prairie\u2019s Senior Technical Support Rep\u00a0Gary Hall\u00a0<\/strong>. \u201cThe proportions were not appropriate for a traditional finish,\u201d he says, \u201cso we had to significantly cut back the aggregate mass to make this mix more workable, finishable and cost-effective.\u201c<\/p>\n

A high-early-strength requirement of 3,500 psi at 3 days was also factored in, says Hall, with red granite remaining in the mix to help maintain color integrity throughout the life of the concrete.<\/p>\n

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Teamwork for precise color consistency, slump<\/h2>\n

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Prairie Yard 33 on Chicago\u2019s near Southwest Side produced the integrally colored mix for the new lanes. Since the pigment comes in powder form, dialing in the correct amount of water was critical to maintaining required slump and air entrainment at the job site, says QC Field Rep\u00a0Mike Urlacher\u00a0<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

No water could be added on site, since it would dilute the color, Urlacher notes. Prairie assigned 4 to 6 dedicated drivers and trucks to each of the 220-to-260-yard pours to assure careful attention to all QC requirements.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the start of every pour, we checked the first loads of the day with our drivers, confirming how the mix should look,\u201d says Urlacher. \u201cWe showed them how to slowly bring all the powder down and roll the load from the back of the drum to the front, which uses the concrete itself to incorporate all the color without adding water.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The right finish for lasting strength<\/h2>\n

Finishing the colored mix correctly is critical to its long-term durability, says Melnyk.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe used a color hardener on the lane surfaces, broadcast at half a pound per square foot. To achieve the correct density, we used two passes of shake with bull floating in between,\u201d he says. The final finish was broomed to further close the surface.<\/p>\n

Most placements were set for Saturdays and evenings to avoid traffic and inconvenience to commuters. The new east-west lanes will open this September, with dedicated lanes on north-south routes set for completion in 2016.<\/p>\n

More color across the\u200b\u200b region<\/h2>\n

Prairie is providing colored mixes for a host of projects this year, says Sales Coordinator\u00a0Ashlee Sawicki\u00a0<\/strong>. \u201cWe\u2019re getting a steady stream of color requests for all sorts of applications. Designers are looking for durability as well as the aesthetic quality of colored concrete.\u201d<\/p>\n

In South Suburban Oak Lawn,\u00a0Abbey Paving\u00a0<\/strong>is placing 200 yards of integrally colored mixes to create a dramatic entry plaza for the new in-patient tower addition at\u00a0Advocate Christ Medical Center.\u00a0<\/strong>Solomon\u2019s Soapstone and Smoke colors will be used to construct a new fountain, retaining walls, driveways and walkways that will help to unify the site. The project will finish up by late 2015.<\/p>\n

In Peoria,\u00a0Wm. Aupperle & Sons\u00a0<\/strong>placed 300+ yards of Solomon 920 Black mix to create a new parking lot for the\u00a0Bushwhacker\u00a0<\/strong>store near\u00a0Junction City Shopping Center\u00a0<\/strong>. Original specs called for bituminous pavement to match other Junction City lots and drives, but general contractor\u00a0Craft Building Services\u00a0<\/strong>converted the job after showing how integrally colored mix would deliver strength and savings while matching the center\u2019s existing color palette.<\/p>\n

On Chicago\u2019s North Side,\u00a0Martin Cement\u00a0<\/strong>placed 75 yards of Scofield\u2019s Quicksilver integrally colored concrete for the new outfield concourse at\u00a0Wrigley Field<\/strong>. A special solar-reflective additive that keeps the finished concrete cooler helped the project meet LEED standards for Solar Reflectance Index (SRI) of 29+ for hardscapes, gaining credits via\u00a0SS 7.1 Sustainable Sites: Heat Island Effect\u00a0<\/em>\u200b.<\/p>\n

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Traffic congestion causes real misery for commuters who rely on Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) buses that travel between train stations in the city\u2019s West Loop and the Michigan Avenue business district. The buses make more than 1,000 trips across the Loop daily \u2013 and with rush-hour speeds as slow as 3 miles per hour, an […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2808,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prairie.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prairie.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prairie.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prairie.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prairie.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.prairie.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prairie.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prairie.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prairie.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prairie.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}