Best Small Project: North Broad Street Redevelopment
Winder, Ga., revitalized its main downtown thoroughfare by combining the design and resources of a streetscape enhancement effort with those of a roadway maintenance project. Collaboration between the project team and the Georgia Dept. of Transportation (GDOT) led to the selection of a unique, long-lasting system of reinforced precast concrete pavement slabs, which are rarely used in congested urban settings.
Based on the project team’s 3D imaging of the route collected using LiDAR mobile laser scanning surveying technology, GDOT prepared plans and bidding documents for 348 precast panels. With each specially shaped for a specific location, the project team needed to manage a host of complicated, highly variable geometries. Among them were non-parallel edges alongside structures, emergency access to buildings, crowns of intersecting streets and specific cross-slopes for control of storm drainage. Panel-to-panel fit tolerance measured only 1/8 in. for both linear gaps and vertical elevation differences.