A major transportation project in El Paso is advancing with crews using full-scale planning exercises and specialized safety systems to construct bridge columns above Interstate 10.
The Texas Department of Transportation’s SH 178 Artcraft Road Improvements project includes four flyover connections designed to link I-10 with Artcraft Road. The new connections are expected to improve traffic movement near one of the region’s major international border crossings.
Sundt is constructing 104 mast-placement columns for the project, with some reaching 55 feet in height.
The size and configuration of the columns created challenges beyond conventional concrete placement. Crews needed to place concrete from the bottom of each form while workers inside the column consolidated the material with vibration equipment.
Before beginning the work in the field, Sundt’s project team created a full-scale representation of the column footprint using duct tape on a warehouse floor.
The exercise allowed workers and supervisors to walk through the planned work area, evaluate clearances and identify potential congestion and pinch points. The team also used the mock-up to review emergency and rescue procedures for employees working inside the narrow column forms.
The planning process brought craft professionals, supervisors and safety personnel together before the work began, allowing the team to test its methods in a controlled environment.
Each column requires a four-person crew, with two workers positioned inside the form and two stationed at the top.
Workers inside the column use a metal vibrator to consolidate concrete as it rises through the form. Proper consolidation helps eliminate voids that could affect the finished structure.
The confined work area also requires multiple safety measures. Workers entering the forms wear harnesses connected to a winch system at the top of the formwork. Blowers provide fresh air, while personal air monitors can alert workers to potentially hazardous atmospheric conditions.
The rescue system allows workers positioned above the column to retrieve an incapacitated crew member without requiring another employee to enter the confined space.
Crews can place and consolidate approximately seven feet of column each hour. A 55-foot column requires roughly a full day to complete.
Construction is progressing across all four bridges in different phases, allowing crews to maintain an alternating sequence as the structures advance.
Sundt has completed 70 of the project’s 104 mast-placement columns. The first phase of the main bridge has also progressed to cap and column completion, with girder setting and deck work now underway.
The project’s structural activities demonstrate the coordination required when multiple elevated structures are constructed over an active interstate corridor. Sequencing, worker access, concrete placement and emergency planning all have to be integrated into the construction process.
Core structural work is expected to reach completion in summer 2027.
The SH 178 project illustrates how transportation contractors are combining detailed preconstruction planning with specialized safety systems to execute complex bridge work in constrained environments. The full-scale mock-up approach also demonstrates how field teams can identify construction and rescue challenges before crews begin working inside tall bridge columns.
Source: Sundt.
