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Sacramento Wash pre-fab Bridge Construction

Started by Max Rockatansky, April 21, 2017, 03:49:15 PM

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Max Rockatansky

Apparently this is the first pre-fab bridge ADOT has ever used in road construction.  Also, anyone know the back story on how Mohave
County got ADOT to help out with the Oatman Highway?



sparker

Quote from: Max Rockatansky on April 21, 2017, 03:49:15 PM
Apparently this is the first pre-fab bridge ADOT has ever used in road construction.  Also, anyone know the back story on how Mohave
County got ADOT to help out with the Oatman Highway?


I'd venture a guess that the Historic 66 aspect of the road -- as something that would draw seasonal tourist traffic -- prompted the bridge replacement as well as the interagency cooperation with the project.  Keep them touristy types happy and spending their bucks on things that generate sales tax!

Max Rockatansky

Makes me wonder if ADOT had some sort of hand in resurfacing Sitgreaves Pass last year?   That was all brand new asphalt when I rolled through there in January 2016 with the Challenger.  I had my suspicions about Mohave County not having that kind of coin for a huge mountain grade like that.

J N Winkler

FHWA OHPI has state highway-related tax distribution tables and for the state gas tax there is typically a split between the state highway account (the pot that is used to fund construction and maintenance on primary state highways) and revenue-sharing with local agencies, the latter being used to fund improvements on arterial roads that are not on the state highway system.  My suspicion is that Arizona DOT used it to fund Oatman Highway improvements, Sitgreaves Pass reconstruction, etc., probably under construction projects that it developed under TRACS numbers beginning with S.

In Arizona, ADOT-let construction contracts have TRACS numbers that fall into two distinct masks:

*  H[four-digit number][two-digit number]C--example H858101C:  this is for work on the state highway system.  H means highway, the first four digits are a macro project number, the last two digits are a job number (most macro projects have only one corresponding job number, usually 01, but quite large projects occasionally divide into multiple jobs with numbers 01, 02, 03, etc.), and C means construction.  (The TRACS system covers non-highway agency activities too, with different initial letters for modes other than highway.  It also covers multiple phases of the project development process, with final letter D for design, L for right-of-way acquisition, etc.)

*  S[letter][three-digit number][two-digit number]C--example SZ11101C:  this is for ADOT-let work on roads under local agency jurisdiction.  I do not know if the second letter (the one following S) encodes a geographical subdivision of Arizona.  As for state highway TRACS numbers, the four-character block following the initial letter refers to a macro project, while the final two digits refer to a job.

My general impression is that non-state-highway TRACS numbers have become much more common in Arizona DOT lettings in the last two or three years.  This may be because of funding issues, or it may signal a general retreat from large-scale state highway construction now that the Loops are substantially complete and it is understood that any remaining large projects will be undertaken by alternative delivery methods.

Arizona is now very crowded.  The commonsense expectation is that as population increases, the pressure to provide infrastructure increases.  The empirical finding is that as population increases, infrastructure provision grinds to a stop.  (Why build more highways if they're just going to attract more people moving in from out of state and thereby cause more congestion?)
"It is necessary to spend a hundred lire now to save a thousand lire later."--Piero Puricelli, explaining the need for a first-class road system to Benito Mussolini

Rothman

If Arizona is crowded, what would you call the other 32 states with a higher population density? :D
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.

sparker

Quote from: Rothman on May 14, 2017, 12:39:37 PM
If Arizona is crowded, what would you call the other 32 states with a higher population density? :D

Arizona, much like all the other Southwestern states, is quite physically large -- but like the others, can only support large population masses in concentrated areas where resources (water, power, etc.) can be brought in efficiently.  Within AZ, that's meant greater Phoenix, greater Tucson (the two of which are gradually growing together!), and several outlying lesser population centers (Yuma, Flagstaff as examples).  On top of that, AZ has massive tribal lands that have their own density policies which effectively maintain diffusion in those territories, as well as mountainous regions (the Mogollons and the eastern Apache territory along US 191) that are not particularly conducive to large-scale housing development -- not to mention the inhospitable deserts in the western half of the state.  Both the Phoenix and Tucson areas have grown rapidly due to relatively loose housing policies as well as the availability of generally inexpensive land on which to deploy large tracts.  It's probable that the state population density level will increase marginally as the present highly developmental zones expand outward -- but there's still a lot of open land out there, so it'll probably maintain its position in the lower half of states in that regard for some time to come.  But in those particular areas that could be considered crowded, it is very much so!



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