J.H. Rudolph & Co., Inc.

A completed portion of Oakhill Road.

    The Oak Hill Road project started at US 41 intersection and continued through the Weinbach Intersection to just short of Morgan Ave.  The project picked up again just north of Morgan Avenue and ended at and included improvements on the Pigeon Creek Bridge. The total project cost was approximately $8,388,300.  $2.6 million in Highway and Bridge Infrastructure funds allocated to the Evansville Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPO) through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 were applied to the project, $387,065.61 was paid with local funds and the balance was funded from our regular allocation of Federal Surface Transportation Program (STP) funds administered to MPO through INDOT.  The Project Engineer/Inspector for this project was American Structurepoint Inc. based out of Indianapolis, IN.  Dan Jochim was the J.H. Rudolph Project Superintendent and TJ Marchand was the Paving Superintendent.  Casey Lasher was the J.H. Rudolph Project Manager.

     The project was originally phased to be constructed half at a time and was to allow one-way traffic through the project.  At the early stages of the project it was identified by J.H. Rudolph and the Project Engineer that the project would not be complete by the July 20, 2011 completion date due to the multiple phases of work and utility relocations.  Therefore, with cooperation from INDOT, the City of Evansville, and American Structurepoint, and after numerous meetings with City officials, we were allowed to close the road to thru traffic from US 41 to Weinbach Avenue to expedite the utility relocations and all the other work.  We had to maintain a driving surface throughout construction for the local residents and local businesses.  The areas north of Weinbach and north of Morgan Avenue were constructed half at a time as the original plan.

    In April 2010, the majority of the major utility companies started relocating their facilities to allow room for the new construction.  Also, our subcontractor, Deig Brothers installed approximately 3,600 LFT of new 30″ water main and around 1,400 LFT of new 8″ water main.  This work lasted until around the end of June 2010. 

    J.H. Rudolph started our portion of the work in June 2010. The scope of work for this project was to widen Oak Hill Road and make it a “complete” street by adding bike lanes, full-depth asphalt pavement, new sidewalks, new curb & gutter, new drainage systems, a new traffic signal at Weinbach and new road signs.  The project also consisted of widening the Pigeon Creek Bridge along with other misc. improvements.

    J.H. Rudolph’s work consisted of installing approximately 7,200 LFT of various size storm sewer along with 112 drainage structures.  We also excavated approximately 25,000 CYS of dirt and placed approximately 18,000 tons of #53 stone and crushed concrete to build the new sub grade.  Finally, we placed approximately 24,000 Tons of new asphalt.

     There were also many subcontractors that played a major role in the success and completion of this project.  Ragle Inc. performed the bridge widening and miscellaneous improvements on the Pigeon Creek Bridge.  JBI Construction performed all the concrete curb & gutter, sidewalks, and concrete drive approaches.  Hummel Electric installed the new signal improvements at Weinbach Avenue and also installed all of the new road signs.  CLS Industries provided all of the Traffic Control Equipment/signage for the project and also installed the final thermoplastic pavement markings.  Earth Images installed all of the seeding and sodding for this project.

    The project was around 85% complete at the end of 2010.  Winter arrived early in December 2010 and we shut down the project until the Spring of 2011.  We started back to work in April of 2011 and officially finished the project on July 18, 2011 which was two days earlier than the project completion date of July 20, 2011.

     Our prep crew has been hard at work, when the weather has allowed, at Tipsaw Lake in Perry County where we are replacing about 18″ of dirt, rock and asphalt that was removed from the ‘weathered’ road in the recreational area.  The crew is anxious to get back to work as soon as mother nature decides to cooperate. 

A crew member stands next to the removal area, illustrating the levels of dirt, rock and asphalt that were removed.

     The Herald newspaper, based out of Dubois County, Indiana, recently ran a story on the Jasper Street Department’s annual road inspection trip.  Jasper Street Commissioner Raymie Eckerle, Assistant Steet Commissioner Jeff Theising, Street Department Project Technician Bob Sunderman and J.H. Rudolph & Co., Inc. Project Manager Jeff Kline piled into a van to partake in a day long journey that would take them about 100 miles throughout the Jasper area to inspect every inch of pavement within the city.  This annual trip helps the department assess the state of the city streets and roads and devise a plan of attack when it comes to maintaining the city’s driving surfaces.  J.H. Rudolph & Co., Inc. employees participate in other road assessment trips like the one in Jasper as often as possible.   The cities of Huntingburg, Tell City and Santa Claus and Spencer, Perry and Posey counties have all worked with J.H. Rudolph in similar situations to evaluate their driving surfaces to plan for annual paving and crack sealing requirements.