Atlanta Undergoes North Perimeter Expansion

In the hustle and bustle of Atlanta city life, roadway updates and improvements become a necessity. The department of transportation identified areas on the northern perimeter of Atlanda, spanning 20 miles, that were in need of rebuilding and improved traffic flow through additional bridges. The expansion comes on the heels of the Northwest Corridor expansion, which Pioneer Concrete Pumping completed in November of 2020.

The expansion is specifically located in the North Metro area of Atlanta. The North Perimeter highway consists of one big circle that supports the “arteries” that feed into the city. The DOT identified a specific design change that will accommodate the approximate 3-million daily commuters responsible for creating traffic bottlenecks. The additional bridges and lanes alleviate the pressures of traffic.

Pioneer Concrete Pumping, a family-owned company established in 1973, was selected to place roughly 200,000 yards of concrete over the duration of the expansion project. The 20-mile area loop construction began about 2 years ago in October 2018. Pioneer was awarded the bid in part due to their history of excellent jobsite performance on Ferrovial Construction Group projects as well as the expertise they brought to the job. 

Bridge work is certainly not outside of Pioneer’s comfort zone. This expansion project stands as one of their top 20 large projects of all time. Their company primarily focuses on high-rise jobs using Putzmeister placing booms and have done notable stadium projects for the Rangers, Braves and Falcons.

Multiple Pours, Multiple Pumps

Pioneer placed concrete for everything on the project from footers to stem walls to bridge decks with 11 different truck-mounted boom pumps including multiple Putzmeister 32-, 40-, and 47-meter boom pumps as well as their Sany SY 38 5-section and SY 66 6-section boom pumps. 

A key challenge on the jobsite is accessibility to the numerous bridges and accessibility to the job sites. A total of 33 bridges will be added in this expansion project

“Pouring multiple bridges from so many different areas proved difficult for this job. The tight access and actual pump placement areas were always different,” said Dan Inglese, National Sales Manager for Pioneer Concrete Pumping, “Our Putzmeister equipment, ranging from the 32Z to our Sany 38 to our old reliable 47-meter always got the pours done."

Due to the multiple types of pours on this project, three different mix designs were used including 3,000, 4,000 and 5,000 PSI designs.

The Workday Starts When Traffic Stops

Safety is always a priority for Pioneer, both for their crew members as well as the general public. Scheduling included large considerations of the safety of the crew and the level of traffic that would occur during the peak pour times.

Inglese, said a big challenge on this job was working around traffic, “A high percentage of the concrete pours were after rush hour, with 9 p.m. starts. Traffic had to be paced for the boom pumps to enter the setup area and all construction had to be done while keeping Atlanta’s 285 perimeter highway flowing."

However, during the hot Atlanta summers, operators seemed to prefer working the night shift. Keith Gerald, Pioneer’s Putzmeister 47-meter Operator, ran the majority of night pours. Gerald became a trusted and integral part of the job and was requested over and over for the more complicated pours with the 47-meter. This was just one of the many booms that were used repeatedly on the first and second phase.

Due to the sheer volume of concrete that was poured, and the number of individual pours required in the first phase of the expansion, Pioneer faced some logistics challenges within their fleet. The company has a 55-boom fleet with 22 booms in the city of Atlanta. The initial phase of the project took up to three pumps a day out of their available Atlanta based fleet.

Waiting on the Big Guns

Roughly 20 of the 33 bridges have now been completed in the expansion project. Pioneer is currently in the middle phase, consisting of six bridges and final finishes of the previous decks. The final phase of the expansion will include the remaining seven bridges.

Pioneer carefully planned the pour phases and utilized pumps from their varied fleet that best suited the application needs. Their recently delivered new six section Sany 66M was prioritized on specific bridge decks to optimize its reach and volume capabilities. The six-section boom offers added more versatility and reach from both ground level and the bridge apron. This eliminated the need to add additional system.

The Atlanta North Perimeter Expansion project is estimated to cost over 3 billion dollars and is expected to complete by October 2022.

SPECS
Owner: Department of Transportation

General Contractor: North Perimeter Contractors – Atlanta, Georgia

Concrete Placement Contractor: Pioneer Concrete Pumping – Smyrna, Georgia

Concrete Pumping Contractor: Pioneer Concrete Pumping – Smyrna, Georgia

Ready Mixed Supplier: USA Redi Mix – Atlanta, Georgia

Equipment: Putzmeister 32Z-, 40Z-, 47Z- boom pumps, Sany SY 38, SY 66 boom pumps

Pioneer used multiple Putzmeister pumps on the job as well as two Sany units.

With a multi-location pour schedule, Pioneer faced logistics challenges with their most popular boom models in their Atlanta fleet.

Pioneer's new six-section Sany 66M was prioritized on specific bridge decks to optimize its reach and volume capabilities.