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Repaving The Historic W Road
The W Road in the mountains near Chattanooga, Tennessee was and is many things — historic, highly traveled and badly in need of resurfacing. Just over 3 miles in length and not having been repaved in some 30 years made this repaving project unique in many ways. But it was a challenge the Talley Construction Company of Rossville, Georgia, a longtime customer of Cat® dealer Stowers Cat, and their fleet of Cat paving equipment was ready to take on.
The biggest challenges were the road’s extreme switchbacks, shaped like the letter W, and an elevation change of nearly 2,600 feet.
Safety First
Safety was a significant part of planning. Starting from the top and working down the summit, spotters helped trucks navigate sharp turns while crew members always remained on the uphill side of the equipment. And due to weight restrictions, enough material had to be removed to account for the comparable weight of the new overlay.
Asphalt Removal
Milling was done with a Cat PM825 cold planer equipped with an 8’ 3” milling drum. Talley Construction’s milling foreman Daniel ‘Drew’ Kovacs talked about the challenges and how the machine responded, “The technology on the new Cat PM825 mill provided outstanding control of the process. On a project like this, the maneuverability through the steep, switchback turns near the top of the mountain was very impressive. We worked our way down the mountain through the switchbacks in four longitudinal segments, approximately 500-600 feet at a time. In some stretches, the downslopes were as steep as 15-16%.”
Laydown Logistics
The repaving was done with a Cat AP600 wheeled paver equipped with a Cat SE47 FM screed for the top portion of the road and a Cat AP1000 for the bottom section. Compaction was handled by two Cat double-drum, vibratory rollers — a CB7 and a CB34B. “Compared to the mainline portion of the job, everything about the paving and rolling operations through the switchbacks required more time and a higher level of patience,” said paving foreman Matthew Bean. “We felt that was the best approach to this challenging portion of the repave.”
Importance of Technology
“On this job with some shear drop-offs on one side and/or natural rock formations on the other, we didn’t have the ability to run skis on our pavers,” said Talley vice president of asphalt operations Robert Taylor. “But technology is still very important. We couldn’t use 3D so we relied on 2D milling. The technology on these Cat machines is very intuitive. Operators can hold grade really well and make needed adjustments on the fly.”
“When you’re talking about milling-paving productivity and efficiency these days, horsepower and feet per minute are still important, but they’re not necessarily at the top of the list,” said Taylor. “A big factor is taking someone with limited experience and being able to train them on a machine that’s very intuitive, very user friendly.”
Dealer Support
Cat dealer support is so important on complex projects such as the W Road. Their expertise and experience is critical. Taylor explains, “We’ve grown to be really close partners with Stowers Cat, particularly on projects like this with tight schedules and the added pressures of quickly reopening a closed road. We absolutely must have the parts and service support from a dealer who really understands the nature of the asphalt milling and paving business.”
The challenges and roadblocks the W Road posed were real. An experienced contractor, great dealer support and reliable Cat paving equipment helped quickly reopen the historic road to thousands of daily drivers.
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