Honors and accolades rolled in during all of 2013 for the I-15 CORE project in Utah. Dubbed “The Billion Dollar Baby” by Utah Construction & Design, the $1.725 billion I-15 CORE project in Utah finished almost six weeks ahead of time and $260 million under budget, while keeping existing lanes open to traffic for most of construction. No other billion dollar-plus public highway project in the nation has ever been completed in the time it took to build I-15 CORE (less than 36 months).  I-15 CORE included 24 miles of freeway reconstruction and widening, 10 interchanges and 63 bridges. Four of the bridges were constructed off site and moved into place over weekend closures.

Raba Kistner Infrastructure played an important role performing Independent Quality Assurance during both the design and construction phases. We acted as the owner’s (UDOT) representative, inspecting and testing over 4.0 million cu yds of material.

Using Raba Kistner Infrastructure’s proprietary web-based software program called ELVIS – Electronic Laboratory Verification Information System – to track and retain all information related to Quality Assurance kept the project moving quickly.

“Information was entered into ELVIS daily, allowing for almost real time review of the information,” said Clark D. Prothero, P.E., Vice President of Raba Kistner’s Utah office. “This in turn gave all the parties involved the information needed to monitor and close issues in a timely fashion, allowing for a successful, early completion of the project.”

Article originally published in Raba Kistner Infrastructure Quality Delivers e-newsletter by Nancy Parker.