2014 Fall Edition 10132014

“Paving the Pathway to a Successful Future”
2014 Fall
In this Edition….
PLP Program Starts
I90 finished
New Dowel Bar Inserter
O’Hare runway
Elgin OHare Update
Truck Snow Safety
Retirements
And much more….
October 16, 2014
“Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the
square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no
respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the
human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because
the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”
-Steve Jobs
INSIDE THIS EDITION
Letter from the President
………………………………… 3
North Dakota Update
………………………………… 3
PLP—Plote Leadership Program
………………………………… 4
A Better Place
………………………………… 4
IL– 38 and Kautz
………………………………… 5
EOWA (IL 390) - Mainline Bridges over Lively
Blvd.
………………………………… 5
Learning on The Job with Plote’s New Dowel
Bar Inserter (“DBI”)
………………………………… 6
CCDOTH Pavement Resurfacing North 2014
Program
………………………………… 7
Congrats Finish to I-90
………………………………… 7
Rt 20 & McLean Blvd
………………………………… 8
IL90 WB: UPRR to Elgin Toll Plaza
…………………………………. 8
RT. 2; Pond to Cedar
………………………………… ..9
IL173, Alpine to I-90
…………………………………..9
Elgin O’Hare Expressway
………………………………… 10
Sutton Crossing: Basin Improvements
………………………………… 10
O’Hare Runway
…………………………………11
I90 WB: IL47 to UPRR
…………………………………11
Ice Truck Pictures
……………………………...12-13
Patten CAT Chuck Wagon
…………………………….14-15
What did we do?
…………………………………16
What Can you Capture?
…………………………………17
Safety Article
…………………………………18
Welcome to Plote Companies
…………………………………19
Anniversaries
…………………………………19
Congratulations
…………………………………19
Plote Construction Inc.
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Letter From The President
Well it is hard to believe that the Summer is over and we are
into the Fall. We are busy trying to finish our jobs or get as much
work completed as possible on jobs that will continue into 2015 before Mother Nature turns on us and it’s winter again. I am happy
with the progress we have made this construction season and thank
all of you for your dedication and hard work. We have some exciting new work to bid on this fall and winter that will hopefully make
2015 a good year with lots of work for us.
With the rush to beat the weather make sure everyone is still paying attention to Safety on the job site. It is most important for
us to come off the job site and make it safely back home to our families each night. Remember one of our Plote Values is
“Safety before all else safety paves the way”. Let’s work to accomplish this value in the next months to come.
Enjoy the last few days of good weather and the fall season.
Dan
"There is no limit to what you can accomplish if you don't care who gets the credit."
-Ronald Reagan
North Dakota Update
Gravel sales have been strong this year. We contracted to produce 175,000 ton for the new Watford City Bypass.
That, along with other jobs, shows our scoria and gravel sales will exceed 400,000 ton this year.
Crushing has been strong and steady all year.
Fall is here and winter is approaching, slowly I hope.
Our workload and contracts will have us very busy until December 1st, weather permitting.
McKenzie County had a “Slide“ Roadway Repair Project that we will be finishing up, hopefully by Thanksgiving.
Larry Plote
Plote Construction Inc.
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PLP—Plote Leadership Program
Plote Construction has launched its first program for developing leadership in the Plote companies. The Plote Leadership Program (PLP) is a ten session course run by an outside consultant named
Bill Treasurer and assisted by our own executive team. This is the first run of the program with the
plan to continue to offer this to other people in our organization. The executive team at Plote will be
selecting the members of the program for each 10 week session. Below is a picture of the first group
to go through the program. Dan and the executive team are excited to put this program into place and
be part of the training for it.
Karen B.—Executive Assistant
A Better Place
In light of the updated and revised Plote Mission Statement and Plote Values for the company
Dan Plote would like to make sure that we are living the values each and every day in the work place.
Part of the Plote Mission Statement states “Plote provides the leadership, resources, and training to
address the needs of our employees, customers, and community”. To make sure we are addressing the
needs of our employees we are asking for suggestions for how to make Plote a great place to work. If
you have any suggestions to make Plote a great place to work Dan and the other executive team members would like to hear them. You can email suggestions to Karen Busch at [email protected] and
put on the subject “making Plote a great place to work” or you can drop them into Karen’s inbox on
her desk in an envelope with “making Plote a great place to work” written on the front. The suggestions will be brought to the executive team members at their meetings. Dan and the executive team
are committed to keeping Plote a great place to work and look forward to your comments.
Thank you,
Karen B. — Executive Assistant
Plote Construction Inc.
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IL-38 and Kautz
It's been a very busy end of summer and early fall on the IL-38
and Kautz Rd railroad overpass project in West Chicago. Traffic was
placed on the new overpass on August 13th, and Stage III construction has maintained a blistering pace since then.
Stage III operations kicked off with Denny Q's dirt crew focusing on building up the 70,000 CY Kautz Rd embankment, while
Terry C's grinding crew made short work of the existing asphalt pavement and pozzolanic base, all of which was hauled to the embankment. Roadway excavation and preparation has been ongoing simultaneous to the mass embankment operation and has been a model of
efficiency, moving down the line cutting the ditch, preparing sub
grade and placing PGE, and really just making it look easy!
Drainage installation has been the only drag on the on the
impressive operation, with multiple unknown utility conflicts discovered and multiple utility hits hampering Swallow's progress.
Eight short weeks later and we are making the final push to
get under drain installed, complete aggregate subgrade, and proceed with Stabilized Subbase paving PCC paving on mainline Rt.
38 this year before the weather turns.
Thanks to everyone who has fought through adversity and
frustration to keep this long drawn out project a Plote success
story. Let's now get ready for the final push to get the majority of
the remaining work completed this year!
Perry W. — Project Manager
EOWA (IL 390) - Mainline Bridges over Lively
A joint venture contract between Dunnet Bay Construction Co. and Plote Construction Inc. was roped
in by Estimator Dave P. in the early summer, and Plote found a home for a second flagpole on the Elgin
O’Hare corridor, this time at Lively Blvd. After the typically slow contract startup with the ISTHA, construction began in August. Complete with 170,000 Cubic Yards of Furnished Excavation and 50,000 Cubic Yards
of Earth Excavation to be performed on this contract, Superintendent Ty Z. and his crews are going to have
their hands full as they work to place as much of that material as possible before winter inevitably strikes.
General Supt. Norm S. has been lining up the material sources and Supt Ty Z and his crews have been fighting
the good fight day in and day out moving mass material around numerous utility conflicts and delays doing
their best to slow them down. With the construction of a new frontage road scheduled for late this season and
a new bridge to be constructed for the future O’Hare Western Access in the early spring of 2015, it is going to
be fight to the finish before mother nature forces us to pull our toys out of the sandbox and wait for the spring
thaw.
Ben S. — Project Manager
Plote Construction Inc.
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Learning on The Job with Plote’s New Dowel Bar Inserter (“DBI”)
First, a big thank you to Mike F.’s crew, John Joe, Aaron, Carl, Tommy, and Ryan as well as
Kurt and his guys at the Kreutzer plant for their long hours and strong determination to make working
with Plote’s latest acquisition, the Dowel Bar Inserter (“DBI”) a successful first time experience. In
an effort to bring the latest technological advancements in concrete paving to our seasoned professionals, last Spring Plote purchased its first DBI component for the 2800 Gomaco. The primary advantage
of the DBI is that it reduces labor and material costs because it completely eliminates the need for
dowel baskets and the labor to set the dowels in front of the paver. A second advantage is that it expedites the entire trucking effort by allowing semis to dump in front of the belt placer instead of having
to dump single file down the hall road.
It wasn’t until this year; however, that the job and right conditions presented themselves in order for us to take this piece of equipment out for a test drive. The ISTHA contracts #4114 and #4124
provided the perfect back drop for our guys to learn how to use the DBI because the 2 projects provided a connecting stretch of 12,600 feet from the UPRR to Route 47 without any gaps. After a one
day pour on the Rockford 173 project, the Gamaco 2800 came back to the job site and the assembly of
the DBI component started the second week of August. The test strip dowel bar MRI passed without
the need for any remedial repairs required.
The first day with the DBI was a real learning curve for Mike F.’s crew. Despite extreme problems with grade control and DBI insertion, they still managed to lay 2,000 feet. The next day was cut
short with only 1300 feet down because of plant issues and day 3 the crew battled a break of the smart
cylinder on the rocket launcher and had to stop after only 1,800 feet. Once the crew got through all of
the mechanical break downs day 4 and day 7 were very successful in that they were able to lay in excess of 3,000 yards both days by working extended hours. Even though they still had to stop because
of electrical shorts, they were also still able to get smoothness within the Tollway specifications.
Mike F.’s crew worked long hours and
tirelessly dedicated themselves to acquiring the
knowledge needed to become skilled in using
the DBI Paver. On future projects that have
long multiple days of mainline pouring , Plote
will have the option of DBI paving or conventional basket method slip form paving to have
a more competitive bid. Thanks again to all
who worked with the new DBI equipment.
Mike W.
Plote Construction Inc.
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CCDOTH Pavement Resurfacing North 2014 Program
PLOTE PAVES THE WAY FOR COOK COUNTY!!!
With Superintendent John H. at the helm, Plote Construction paved several streets this Fall for
the Pavement Resurfacing North 2014 Project all over Cook County. From Wilmette, Northfield,
Rolling Meadows to Bartlett - Plote milled over 95,000 square yards of deteriorating roads and paved
over 19,000 tons of HMA Asphalt all in just over two months! Talk about your Grind & Overlay!!!
A large thank you and good job to everyone involved with this effort.
Daniel B.—Project Engineer
Congrats to I-90 Finish
Chief engineer Paul Kovacs made a personal visit and
inspected Plote Construction Inc.’s sections on the I-90
reconstruction.
He congratulated Chuck H. and said the entire staff on the I-90
corridor did a great job!
Great job to all involved!
Dan P.
Plote Construction Inc.
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Route 20 & McLean Blvd
After extensive delays in 2013 on IDOT's Route 25 & McLean
Blvd project, Plote was productive in the spring and summer of this
year in completing work that was originally expected to be completed
last year. We entered Stage II maintenance of traffic at the end of July.
Reaching this milestone was significant, because it not only opened up
another stage consisting of large volumes of excavation, asphalt, and
concrete work, but it also allowed us to begin McLean Blvd reconstruction work. Stage II work has been highly productive. Unlike Stage I dirt
work where large embankments were necessary, Stage II requires mass
excavation work. These large volumes of excavation are much likely to
be influenced by poor weather conditions. Without being constrained by
weather related challenges, we have been able to move much larger volumes of dirt. At times when we have operated with two crews, our production rates have exceeded 4,000 CY of excavated haul off per day. In
addition to benefitting from high production rates, Plote's Project Managers and Estimators collaborated to find a way to further make the operation a successful one. Our Elgin O'Hare Tollway project at Lively Boulevard requires a large amount of
imported dirt for embankment. We determined that hauling excavated material from Route 20 and McLean to the
Elgin O'Hare would be a method of reducing company
trucking costs. Both projects would benefit financially
by splitting the trucking. Superintendents John D. and
Ty Z. have been efficient in managing the large number
of trucks hauling the dirt. The majority of Stage II excavation was completed much more quickly than we had
originally anticipated. By hauling off so much dirt in
such a short time, we have been able to advance the project and open up asphalt and concrete work.
Marco B.—Project Manager
I90 West Bound; UPRR to Elgin Toll Plaza
As the summer months wrapped up concrete/ asphalt paving was in full affect. Thanks to great efforts from Bill D, Troy I and their field crews we were able to wrap up all binder to leave us enough time
to finish concrete paving. The two I90 West contracts were the first to use the DBI Paver for Plote. With
all new advances comes a learning curve. Thanks to Mike F, Melchor G, Juan C, and all crew members
we were able to overcome the initial hiccups and perfect using the DBI paver. After working long days
and nights we were able to complete all work and switched traffic into westbound lanes 2&3 on September 25th. Once traffic was switched to WB lanes work did not slow down. We continuously worked around
the clock to finish pouring all gaps in the median, and finish pavement grooving /striping in order to open
all lanes eastbound and westbound to traffic on October 15th.
Frank T. —Project Engineer
Plote Construction Inc.
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IL173, Alpine to I-90
Illinois Route 173 and Route 2 in the Rockford area are in the midst of a much needed upgrade on
a couple sections of their roadway. Progress on Rt. 173 is moving fast as we approach the completion
date for the first phase of construction. The two lane road that once was, is almost completely rebuilt and
will have 4 new lanes for traffic, multiple new turn lanes, and 5 new and improved intersections. This 1
mile stretch will have 25,000 CY of new concrete poured before the end of October.
Paul M.—Project Manager
RT. 2; POND TO CEDAR
Rt. 2, just south of downtown Rockford, is also
in the first phase of construction. Constructing 4 new
lanes, over 12,000 LF of curb and gutter, 40,000 SF of
sidewalk, and colored & stamped concrete medians,
are just some of the improvements that have will have
taken place before this years end. Water main delays
have slowed the progress in stage 2, but there is plenty
more work to do before the snow flies.
Paul M—Project Manager
Plote Construction Inc.
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Elgin O’Hare Expressway
The summer season seemed to come to a close quicker than anticipated in 2014, coinciding with
the switch into the Stage 3 traffic configuration on the Elgin O’Hare project, between Roselle Rd. and
Meacham Rd. The late season switch and a few weeks of relatively dry weather gave Superintendent Ty
Z. and his crew an opportunity to push those big steel machines to the limit and move over 50,000CY of
earth all in the month of September, and move the earth they did! With the excavation of a new Detention
Pond complete, the construction of brand new Noise Abatement Walls and Toll Plaza’s are in full swing.
The CRC Plaza Pavement to be constructed in this contract came with a 48hr. removal to replacement
specification. Although the physical quantity of work to be completed in these locations wasn’t particularly daunting, the coordination and work effort was astronomical. Pavement Removal at 4am, followed
immediately by installation of underground tolling conduits until the middle of the night. Gen Supt Bill D
was kind enough to pull the nighttime paving crew from the O’Hare Airport at 3am so that the stabilized
sub base could be installed in enough time for Gen. Supt. Mike F’s crews to begin prepping the reinforcement for the plaza pavement that next day. After an inspection of conduits and reinforcement by the
Tollway it was ready for the pour crew to come and place the pavement as the sun was coming up to shed
some light on the final product…. All so we could run the same gamut again on the other side!! A special
thanks to all Plote parties involved in this operation, as it did make for one heck of a long week. With the
remainder of the Concrete work being completed in early October and the final SMA Surface pavement
scheduled just a few short weeks out, the light at the end of the tunnel is drawing ever closer.
Ben S.—Project Manager
Sutton Crossing: Basin Improvements
After a couple of months of negotiations and rain delays, the
Sutton Crossing Retention Basin project has finally got gotten underway! With the field work headed up by Hank B., the excavation division is off to a good start on the project. It is a wet and muddy mess
but someone has to do it. We will be moving over 80,000 cy of material, installing 1,500 lf of storm sewer and 20,000 sy of sod to reconfigure the existing ponds at the site. As long as the rain stays away,
the project should wrap up in November.
Chris F. — Estimator
Plote Construction Inc.
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O’Hare Runway
Work at the 10R-28L PLS Project is ongoing and will continue through mid next year. Steve D.
and his crew have paved over 125,000 tons of asphalt over the past five months and will continue until
mother nature decides otherwise. The majority of the 10R-28L runway and has been completed, and now
the focus turns to the northern “Taxiway W” and shoulder work. The tolerances of work set forth by
OMP are very rigid and unforgiving, but Steve and Mo G. have done a great job and corrections are
minimal!
Keith K. — Project Engineer
I90 West Bound; IL 47 to UPRR
As the summer months wrapped up excavating/ paving was in full affect. With the schedule looking tight and a lot of work ahead of us we were able to make up for lost time. Thanks to great efforts and
coordination from Chuck H, Dave F, Bill D, Troy I and their field crews we were able to wrap up all excavating and asphalt binder to leave us enough time to finish concrete paving. The two I90 West contracts
were the first to use the DBI Paver for Plote. With all new advances comes a learning curve. Thanks to
Mike F, Melchor G, Juan C, and all crew members we were able to overcome the initial hiccups and perfect using the DBI paver. After working long days and nights we were able to complete all work and
switched traffic into westbound lanes 2&3 on September 30th. Once traffic was switched to westbound
lanes work did not slow down. We continuously worked around the clock to finish pouring all gaps in the
median, and finish pavement grooving and striping in order to open all lanes eastbound and westbound to
traffic on October 15th.
Frank T. —Project Engineer
Plote Construction Inc.
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I Scream, You Scream, We all Scream for Ice Cream!
Plote Construction Inc.
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Plote Construction Inc.
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Chuck Wagon with Patten CAT
Plote Construction Inc.
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Plote Construction Inc.
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What did we do?
What did Plote do this summer? I believe the proper question to be asking would be, What did
Plote not do over these summer months? Plote has been one busy place all summer long, and not in a bad
way at all. Everyone has been working extremely hard and enjoying time with all their fellow coworkers
too. From starting new jobs, planning events, finishing up old jobs, and bidding lots of new work everyone has been busy.
July and August brought about a lot of excitement and work for Plote. Plote decided to bring back
the Ice Cream truck from last years. The Ice cream truck stopped by and everyone took a little break from
work to go outside to enjoy the weather. We had a prefect day of weather outside as everyone sat around
talking and enjoying their choice of a cold sweet. Later on that month Patten CAT was gracious and
treated the Plote Shop and Rt. 25 crew to a BBQ Chuck Wagon. The chuck wagon was held in the first
shop, and everyone sat around tables set up for the BBQ to enjoy the company of Patten CAT and fellow
coworkers. By the end of lunch everyone was “fat and happy.”
The great excitement came at the beginning of August for the IDOT letting. I would like to congratulate the estimating team again, who spent long nights and days putting all the bids together. Thanks
to the Plote team PCI swept two thirds of all the work that was available to bid for the August 1 letting!
Then, later in mid August Plote estimators hit hard again and Plote was awarded all bids submitted to the
special IDOT letting! Good going to the estimating team and
everyone else involved with these bids, you all rock!
Finally, earlier in October the School distract 57, Fairview Elementary in Mt. Prospect, came for their field trip to
learn about rocks and sediment. Karen C. gave the 2nd graders a tour around the pit. They were all wowed and showed
how rocks start out and then how they are broken down into
different sizes and shapes.
All together it has been a good end to the summer season and beginning transition into the fall season. Everyone is
busy planning for the new jobs coming up in the next year,
finishing up old jobs, and starting up new ones before the winter weather is upon us. Keep up all the great work and enjoy
it. Ya’ll are rocking it out!
Heather P.—Project Administrator
Plote Construction Inc.
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North Dakota culverts
on the job.
Thanks to John Doe for capturing this
picture at the Huntley Plant during the
recent Microburst..
What Can You Capture?
Recent job up in North Dakota
PCI to repair road slide that
occurred.
Plote Construction Inc.
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4 Ways to Pull a Truck or Car from the Mud/Snow
Sometimes, you just can’t avoid driving through mud. Whether you’re parking in an unpaved lot or
pulling off the pavement to get to a jobsite, odds are that at some point, you’re going to have to navigate
some mud and muck. Drive through enough of it, and you’re probably going to get stuck. With tires spinning, mud flying and forward progress halted, what is a driver to do?
Rock It Out
As soon as the truck bogs down to a complete stop, the first thing you should do is put it in reverse, keep
your wheels straight and gradually accelerate in an effort to get back where you started from—on solid
ground. If the truck has four-wheel drive and you haven’t already locked it in, definitely do so now. If the
truck bogs down after going only a short distance in reverse, shift into low gear and power forward as far as
you can. If the tires spin, turn the tires side to side in an effort to get the edge of the treads to grip the surface.
Increase acceleration gradually, giving it more and more gas as long as you are moving forward. Repeat the
back-and-forward process as long as you continue to make progress. Passengers should get out of the vehicle
and help push if necessary. This will also reduce the weight of the truck.
Add Traction
Place dry, solid objects beneath the edge of the tire in the direction you want to go (forward or reverse).
Some drivers have successfully used floor mats (though, they’ll probably be toast afterwards), but rocks,
limbs and boards all make better options. You can also reduce the amount of air pressure in your tires to gain
more contact between the ground and the tires’ tread. Recommendations include dropping the pressure to
between 18 and 20 pounds per square inch.
If the truck is resting on the undercarriage, use the vehicle’s jack to lift the tires off the ground. (Make sure
the jack is on a solid surface and never crawl under the vehicle while it’s jacked up.) Once lifted even a few
inches, you can slide sticks, boards or other solid items beneath the tires to provide lift and traction.
Winch It Out
If you plan to drive through mud on a regular basis, it is probably wise to outfit your truck with some sort of
winch. Even if you don’t have a winch, a come-along or a Hi-Lift jack can be used to pull the vehicle free
provided there is a tree or other solid object close enough to attach a recovery strap around. Simply loop the
winch cable or recovery strap around the tree and use the power winch, come-along or jack to slowly pull it
out of the rut. For safety, place a blanket over the center point of steel winch cables. In the event the cable
snaps, the weight of the blanket should keep the cable from whipping into the air, possibly injuring you or
damaging the truck.
Pull It Out
Oftentimes, the best and quickest way to get your truck unstuck is to have another truck simply pull you out.
Using a webbed recovery strap, never use chains, attach the strap to both trucks’ tow hitches, frame-mounted
tow hooks or the frame itself, as long as you can get to them without putting tension on other, less solid parts
of the vehicles. Never attach a strap to a bumper, axles, parts of the suspension or the hitch ball, as these
parts can get easily damaged. Once attached, the mobile vehicle should pull most of the slack from the
strap, leaving just enough room for the mobile vehicle to get up a little speed before pulling on the stuck one.
The mobile vehicle should accelerate gradually—never stomp the gas—and the driver of the stuck vehicle
should put it in gear and begin applying gas as the vehicle starts to move. Bystanders should stay two to
three car lengths from the vehicles and out of their path of travel in the event the strap breaks or one of the
vehicles begins to slide.
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Safety Department
Welcome To Plote Companies
Kohls, Ryan—GPS Project Engineer –PCI
N/A
Popejoy, Karen—Executive Administrative Assistant—PH
N/A
Blakinski, Richard—Equipment/Fleet Manager—PCI
N/A
Moore, Michelle—Assistant Dispatcher—PCI
Michelle, native to Aurora, IL she comes to PCI as a new employee to the construction business, but is no
stranger to the waste industry, she has 16 years in it to back her up. In her spare time she likes spending it
with her daughter and taking her Pomeranian Tongo on walks outside. Confidently she admits to now having
an addiction to watching Dora the explorer and Blues Clues. Welcome to Plote Construction Inc.
Michelle!
Anniversaries
Last
First
Congratulations
Years
Madden
Bill
10
Wagner
Billy
10
Kubicek
Anne
5
Lopez
Luis
15
Weber
Todd
10
Aguilar
Patricia
5
Banuelos
Antonio
15
Plote Construction Inc.





Erik Sundquist welcomed their new baby girl August 5,
2014.
Congrats to Rob Cox on being a new grandpa!
Kevin Goodnight welcomed their new baby girl July 15,
2014
Brad and Leslie Gregorin welcomed their first child,
Henry Terrance, on Saturday, September 27th.
Congratulations to Cliff Foster on his retirement after
working at Plote for 37 years this Past August!
Congratulations Ralph Backe on his retirement from
Boulder Ridge Country Club after working for 25 year
this August!
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THE PLOTE COMPANIES
Corporate Offices:
1100 Brandt Drive
Hoffman Estates, IL 60192
Phone: 847-695-9300
E-mail: Info @plote.com
Website: www.plote.com
Got something you want to say? Keep a look out for the next edition of The
Steamer deadline of December 15.
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