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Project Updates

Bridges and Highways

I-74 Mississippi River Bridge I Bettendorf, IA

The Iowa-Illinois Bridge is a major bottleneck, causing delays for the bi-state communities linked by the I-74 Corridor. As part of the new bridge’s reconstruction, Aldridge is installing streetlights, LED architectural fixtures, miles of suspended conduit under the bridge for future expansion, a network of power necessary to ventilate and illuminate the arches, and electronic sensor equipment to continually monitor the structural health of the bridge. Aldridge planned and executed an innovative approach to the work by installing conduit within the arches prior to their delivery on-site. With the keystones set, crews focused on connecting the prefabricated systems and tying them into their permanent utility feeds to complete the arch work. This project reached a major milestone when the westbound portion of the bridge opened to traffic in November 2020.

Bay Bridge Automated Lane Closure System I Stevensville, MD

This Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) project is the first of its kind in the United States. The project scope includes the installation of an Automated Lane Closure System (ALCS) consisting of ITS devices that advise motorists of closed lanes as they are approaching the eastern shore two-way traffic crossover.

Aldridge will install three miles of in-pavement lights and a series of swing gates to remotely switch traffic patterns during high traffic periods. The system will be used by William Preston Lane Jr. Memorial Bridge (Bay Bridge) operations and maintenance staff to remotely close lanes, allow contra-flow operations on the North or South bridges, and address incidents.

Express Lanes I Los Angeles, CA

Crews are working to maintain communications infrastructure for this high-traffic toll system. The scope includes maintenance and repair of the fiber optic/copper and communication, network, and electrical systems. For this on-call maintenance project, field leaders and crews leveraged their strong local relationships and vast knowledge of the existing infrastructure to become a preferred contractor with the client.

Airports

This year, Aldridge was awarded multiple projects related to O’Hare 21 - Chicago’s vision for a 21st Century airport. A few of those projects include:

Site/Civil for Terminal 5 Expansion

This project included constructing a new east extension to Terminal 5, which will provide ten new international flight gates. Aldridge's scope on this project included site infrastructure for utility duct banks and manholes, high mast lights, a grounding system, and installation of caisson foundations. The drilling scope included 300 caisson foundations for the new Terminal 5 east extension and east and west concourse boarding bridge foundations. Aldridge utilized BIM modeling and prefabrication to install the duct bank packages for the site utility.

Taxiway A&B Relocation

The purpose of this project is to relocate existing utilities to build out new terminals. As Prime Contractor, our scope includes the installation of large duct bank packages, manholes, handholes, jacked casings, directional bores, and multiple duct bank tie-ins to existing structures. Challenges included tight production windows and utilizing custom equipment and materials to complete tie-in work.

Runway 9C/27C NAVAIDS

As General Contractor, Aldridge self-performed the majority of construction for the FAA NAVAIDS Facilities Project. The coordination of the design documents was a major challenge. Since the scope of work was intertwined with other projects onsite, there were differences between the many design drawings. However, our experienced O'Hare team was able to quickly offer solutions that drove quick resolution of complex issues. Aldridge successfully completed this work to the owner’s satisfaction by identifying and mitigating potential conflicts. This runway opened in November 2020.

California Airport Infrastructure

We are proud to be a longstanding construction contractor at Chicago's airports. As we began to pursue and be awarded similar scopes in California, subject matter experts from our Chicago-based team were instrumental in building a strong airport team on the west coast. These west coast airport teams are actively working on three major California airports.

LAX

Aldridge decommissioned the existing electrical services to make room for the construction of a new 3,600 FT cross-field taxiway. In addition, crews performed extensive modifications to existing airfield lighting circuitry, installation of new lighting and associated duct bank, and rerouting public works power duct bank feeders. The 13-phase project was complex and therefore required heavy coordination to ensure seamless project execution with other project stakeholders and overlapping phase work.

Ontario

This project scope involved the site electrical, demolition, high-mast lighting, and power and communications distribution for a new state-of-the-art sorting facility. Associated work included relocating the duct bank for a new runway, airfield apron, and the installation of taxiway edge and centerline lighting. This project benefitted from nearly two miles of prefabricated duct bank that was installed on this immense 51-acre site expansion. Work required close coordination with over 50 contractors, the FAA, airport operations, and the City to avoid serious potential impacts to the traveling public.

San Francisco

Aldridge replaced the existing people mover control system with radio-based train controls, extended the existing system, and added an additional stop. Modifications and additions were made to the central control system, blue light system, intrusion alarm system, public address system, and SCADA system. The new platform door system required specialized project staff to plan, build, and integrate new technology into the current system.

Foundations

Van Buren to Jackson | Chicago, IL

In the heart of downtown Chicago, Aldridge constructed a retaining wall along the Southbound I-90/94 ramp to Westbound I-290, as part of a complete overhaul of the Jane Byrne Interchange. Major innovation was required for the logistical coordination when moving large equipment within the narrow limits of this project site. The 110-ton crane necessary for this work had to be disassembled and moved across four lanes of highway traffic, with local police performing traffic control, to get to the job site. The team rebuilt this machine on the side of the most congested interchange in the nation. Moving equipment on this narrow stretch involved extra planning and special sequencing of work. The challenging terrain required drilling shafts under polymer slurry to reduce soil destabilization.

Utility

Windy Edge Substation I Parkville, MD

Aldridge was contracted to install new high-security fencing and technology equipment at the Windy Edge Substation. This mile-long, 12 FT high-security fence includes high-tech security cameras and barbed wire. The cameras utilize thermal visioning and an outdoor perimeter intrusion detection system that uses both fiber optic and radar technology in zones that cover the perimeter of the substation. This detection system and all of this technology feed back to the security building, also installed by Aldridge. The project benefited from off-site prefabrication of over 1,000 panels and the barbed wire grounding, resulting in a significant decrease in labor hours.

Buildings

Waukesha Schools | Waukesha, WI

Aldridge completed work on four schools within the Waukesha School District in preparation for a return to in-person learning. One unique aspect of this interior electrical work included the installation of lighting control systems. This intelligent network of individually addressable luminaires and control devices allows for programmability to adjust to a variety of needs throughout each classroom or lab. Additional technology included the installation of access control systems necessary to deliver security solutions.