WINNER - DECORATIVE MUNICIPAL

11. Maple Road

Maple road REconstruction 

Location: Southfield to Pierce and Old Woodward to Woodward, Birmingham
Contractor: Angelo Iafrate Construction Co.
Sidewalk Contractor: Eminent Contracting
Concrete Supplier: Paragon Ready Mix
Design Engineer: Nowak & Fraus Engineers
Construction Engineer: OHM Advisors
Owner: City of Birmingham

The reconstruction of Maple Road in downtown Birmingham was successfully completed by a team of contractors, subcontractors, and consultants under a compressed schedule with limited disruption to the central business district. The tight schedule included significant underground construction prior to the placement of concrete pavement. The concrete was placed with a combination of slipform pavers along with hand pours in the shorter, tighter, or odd-shaped locations. The phased sidewalk construction required the exposed aggregate sidewalk and planter boxes to be completed prior to installation of the standard sidewalk near the buildings. Protecting the buildings was of the utmost importance.

Although vehicular traffic maintenance was important, the more pressing issue was maintaining the pedestrian traffic to all businesses. To minimize cutting off pedestrian flow during construction, the removal and replacement of sidewalks was limited to 48 hours for any one section. Close coordination between the contractors, city, and businesses was key to completing the project with as little disruption as possible. The newly reconstructed road, along with the decorative curb planters, granite bench seating, and new streetlights give the downtown district a wonderful boulevard for their viewing and shopping pleasure.