R.J. Grondin & Sons is working for the Maine Department of Transportation on the reconstruction of nearly 3 miles of Route 202 in Lyman, Hollis, Buxton & Gorham.
R.J. Grondin & Sons was selected by the Town of Scarborough to complete the second phase of the reconstruction of Gorham Road.
Team Grondin will be completing over 3,600 LF of road reconstruction as well as 2,600 LF of storm drain and 3,400 LF of sewer force main.
R. J. Grondin & Sons was selected by the Town of Ogunquit to complete nearly 2,000 feet of full-depth reconstruction for Agamenticus Road. In addition to the roadway construction, the Grondin crews will construct new porous pavement sidewalks, granite curbing, drainage structures, underground utilities and landscaping.
The 4,500 feet of drainage pipe on this project was very complicated as it needed to be threaded through existing water and sewer utilities. The Grondin crew successfully performed this difficult task under a tight schedule – started after Labor day and completed before the winter shutdown.
In the late summer of 2020 R.J. Grondin & Sons began work on the Brandy Brook Box Culvert for the Maine DOT. This project involved the installation of a brand new 8’x6′ box culvert along with reconstruction of a significant part of the existing streambed. The existing culvert at this location had deteriorated with age and had restricted the migration of fish species which live in this stream. Our crews worked diligently to complete this project during a narrow window of time to minimize our ecological impact on the migratory fish species living in the stream. Crews worked closely with state biologists to ensure that stream bed construction would maintain the delicate ecosystem present in the stream. As a part of this project, our crews removed the existing roadway to facilitate the installation of the new culvert. Once the new culvert had been installed, our crews rebuilt the roadway using base and sub-base gravels that would hold up to the heavy traffic in this area. Another important aspect of this project was the reparation of the erosion of slopes surrounding the stream along with mitigation of future erosion into the new stream bed.
Route 1 in Ogunquit is one of the most heavily traveled roads in Maine. Beginning in the winter of 2015, Maine DOT and R.J. Grondin & Sons embarked on a $13.3 Million project to reconstruct the entire 2.3 mile stretch of Route 1 in the town of Ogunquit as well as replace two bridges over the Ogunquit and Josias Rivers. Running concurrently with the road project, the sidewalks and streetscape at the heart of the village got a major facelift due to an additional $1.3M in funding from the town. Other than I-95, Route 1 is the only other major road that runs through town, so these improvements were vital to the community.
Due to the heavy tourism economy in the area and associated traffic volumes, Maine DOT and the Town of Ogunquit made many compromises to minimize inconveniences to local businesses and tourists. As noted by MDOT Sr. Project Manager, Ernie Martin, “Construction is always difficult on a major route like this one.” The single biggest way to alleviate many problems for the town was to cease road construction operations during the busiest 11 weeks in the summertime which creates a major challenge for the contractor because it is peak season for road building.
Responsiveness to the Town of Ogunquit’s needs were paramount with this project and were met by greatly modifying our work schedule, through very up-to-date progress information by way of a very active Facebook and MDOT website page, as well as weekly meetings with many town representatives, MDOT engineers and all contractors and sub-contractors on-site. Over 73,000 hours were worked by our own workforce over the life of the project and there were no recordable OSHA incidents or any PUC violations. Safety First is our official motto and it’s not just a saying, it’s how we approach our work every day.
Some statistics for the project:
Even though this $13 Million project’s duration was 19 months, we were only able to work on the site in earnest for 15 of those months due to the summertime shut down which is the peak construction season. This different approach to alleviate congestion due to tourists, combined with the sheer size of the project, aggressive schedule and project completion being ahead of schedule and under budget, made this a WINNER of the 2017 AGC Build Maine Award in the Highway/Bridge category.
The soils on either side of the plaza are settling because of poor soil conditions. After years of debating where to relocate it and then designing it, the MTA chose mile marker 8.8 and put the $40 Million project out to bid in the fall of 2018.
The new toll plaza will have 6 open, high-speed E-ZPass toll lanes (3 in each direction) and 9 cash lanes (5 southbound and 4 northbound). R.J. Grondin & Sons was chosen as the Heavy Highway dirt contractor by the general contractor, Reed & Reed, and began work in December of 2018.
Work started with clearing 17 acres of trees along mainline travel lanes and a new roadway between the turnpike and Chase Pond Road to enable access for MTA employees. The next phase of work was to drill and blast approximately 65,000 cubic yards of ledge to make the site level which was then subsequently used to produce most of the sub-base gravels for the project. Over 300,000 cubic yards of rock, topsoil and excavation had to be either removed or processed to build this project.
The roadway was widened to facilitate the extra lanes needed to approach the new toll area with minimal interruption to existing traffic. Once the outside lanes were built and paved, all three northbound and southbound lanes of traffic were moved to the outside of the project so work could then begin in rebuilding the existing lanes as well as installing a new tunnel stretching the entire width of the toll plaza to enable access for employees as well as a conduit for all the electronics associated with the open, high-speed tolling.
Simultaneously digging and backfilling for the foundation of the administration building began. During the winter months of 2020, R.J. Grondin & Sons is grading and placing the center medians to separate the future travel lanes.
Work will continue well into the 2020 construction season and the anticipated completion date is the summer of 2021.
Because of safety concerns, the Maine Dept. of Transportation designed a new roundabout at the intersection of Route 25, Manchester Road and Saco Road in Standish. The intersection had high speeds along Route 25 and stop signs at both of the side streets thus creating a dangerous intersection. R.J. Grondin & Sons was chosen as the prequalified and lowest bidder for the job. Initial planning work started in the winter of 2018 to relocate a lot of the overhead utilities and the heavy earthwork started in the spring of 2019. A minimum of one-way traffic was maintained at all time per the specifications while storm drain pipes and 10,000 cubic yards of new sub-base gravels from a nearby gravel pit were installed for the new roundabout. The new roadway alignment was paved and new landscaping in the center island was installed. Perimeter and approach lighting and signage were installed for safety and it is anticipated that there will be a large reduction in accidents at this intersection as a result of the project.
