The ever-increasing congestion and traffic delays between Los Angeles and Las Vegas resulted in the need for improving this stretch of heavily traveled highway from Victorville to Barstow.

The project included reconstruction of roadway, ramps, bridges, drainage facilities and resurfacing of existing highway. To improve safety conditions and create a smooth driving surface, Skanska USA Civil widened the inside and outside of four existing bridges totaling 12 structure widenings, reconstructed a structural steel railroad over-crossing, constructed thirteen retaining walls, improved drainage systems, moved 1.5 million cubic meters of earth, placed 290,000 metric tons of asphalt concrete and 268,000 cubic meters of PCC pavement.

The first order of work was to construct two temporary lanes in the median beginning in Victorville and progressing north towards Barstow. Once these temporary lanes were constructed, all southbound traffic was rerouted to the median lanes to allow the southbound widening completion to commence unobstructed. A challenging constraint imposed on this project was Caltrans requirement that all lanes on the freeway remain open to public traffic during the high-volume peak hours. That condition required extensive night and split shift working conditions. All work occurred in a region famous for fluctuating climatic conditions from temperatures reaching up to 120 degrees in the summer months to below freezing conditions, with added wind chill, in the winter months.

A major advantage is Skanska USA Civil’s utilization of its own aggregate producing source for the processing of material. Manufacturing of materials for the project was accomplished by using our own portable crushing and asphalt plants.