Illinois Tollway Board Approves New 15

Fall 2011
Illinois Tollway Board Approves New 15-Year
$12 Billion Capital Plan
About the Illinois Tollway
The Illinois Tollway is a user-fee system that receives no state or federal funds for maintenance and operations. The agency maintains and
operates 286 miles of interstate tollways in 12 counties in Northern
Illinois, including the Reagan Memorial Tollway (I-88), the Veterans
Memorial Tollway (I-355), the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway (I-90)
and the Tri-State Tollway (I-94/I-294/I-80).
Read more details about the new 15-Year Capital plan on Page 15.
In This Issue:
PAGE TWO: Message From Dan / Recently Awarded Projects
PAGE FOUR: River Aggregates / Bakken Oil Fields
PAGE SIX: Rakow Road
PAGE EIGHT: Orchard Road
PAGE TEN: O’Hare Runway 10R-28L
PAGE TWELVE: Welcome New Employees
PAGE FOURTEEN: Comcast
PAGE SIXTEEN: People in the News
PAGE THREE: Golf Outing
PAGE FIVE: River Aggregates Photos
PAGE SEVEN: I-55 Milestone
PAGE NINE: I-90
PAGE ELEVEN: Safety
PAGE THIRTEEN: 2011 Byron Drag Day
PAGE FIFTEEN: Tollway Capital Plan
Letter From The President
Well, here we are – Summer is over and Fall is upon us. I
am happy to say we have enough work to finish the 2011
construction season.
We also have a good start on our latest adventure. Yes, we
have opened up a new division in a new market, at one of
the worst times in our country’s economic history. North
Dakota, a Great Plains state is where we are. Our first dirt
job is done, our first aggregate location is up and humming
and oh, yes, our first development is started. Are we brave,
foolish, or just plain dumb? -- I guess only time will tell.
Let’s make the most of the last few weeks of good weather.
It’s hard to say, but I hope you saved up a little this year, because we’re not out of the woods yet. It’s going to be a long, cold
winter and according to the Farmer’s Almanac, lots of snow (I HOPE!!!)
Be safe and watch out for those Trick-Or-Treaters! Keep up the good work,
Dan
Recently Awarded Projects
IL RT. 38 (KAUTZ RD. TO IL RT. 59)
IL RT. 64 (MILWAUKEE TO US RT. 41 NB)
US RT. 20 (WELD RD. TO SHALES PARKWAY)
LAFARGE HAUL ROAD
HIGGINS ROAD & RT. 59 ROADWAY IMPROVEMENTS
2011 LAUREL OAKS DR. RESURFACING IMPROVEMENTS
PULLMAN - OFFSITE
LINCOLN AVE. (NILES CENTER RD. TO DEVON AVE.)
West Chicago
Chicago
Elgin
South Elgin
Hoffman Estates
Streamwood
Chicago
Lincolnwood & Skokie
PULASKI RD. (IL RT. 64 TO DIVISION)
Chicago
MONTROSE AVE. (CANFIELD TO SAYER)
Norridge
CICERO COMM. PARK ICE SKATING FACILITY
PULLMAN - ONSITE
IL RT. 173 & RT. 251 INTERSECTION
US RT. 20 AT MCCLEAN BLVD.
WOLF RD. (FRANKLIN TO GRAND)
2 PLOTE STEAMER | Fall 2011 Cicero
Chicago
Machesney Park
Elgin
Franklin Park
Plote Golf Outing August 1, 2011
Ray Plote and Jim Blackburn
Matt Doucet, Dale Johnson, Dan Plote
Mike Waller, Diane O’Keefe, Dick Kaufmann, Tim Todd
The month of August was kicked off by the 22nd annual
Plote Golf Outing. Another year of beautiful weather
for the golf outing. The guests started check in around
10:30 am with lunch to follow. The 120 golfers were in
their carts and ready to hit the links by 12:00 pm. Dan
Plote led the group of golfers at the first hole. There
were plenty of refreshments along the course as it did
get pretty warm in the afternoon. As I drove around
the course to check on the golfers you could tell who
was having a good day on the links and who was
struggling on the links. One thing they all had in common was that they were having a good time with lots of
laughs along the way. Our own Adam Neisendorf had
a personal best for a longest drive. After golf the golfers were joined by the other guests invited to the patio
party. The food was delicious as always and this year
we had a special treat of freshly caught Alaskan
salmon and halibut caught by the Plote men Ray, Dan,
and Myles just the week before.
The day was a huge success and left everyone anticipating next year’s outing.
-- Karen Busch, Administrative Assistant
Sarah Shepard, Jan Plote, Guy Ackermann
Adam Neisendorf
Fall 2011 | PLOTE STEAMER 3 Look who’s shaken’ the Bakken now!
The Bakken Oil Play, that is….
That’s right…We are!…Things being slow in these parts,
our management team set out to start an operation in a
place that is really “red hot” for business! Just what the
doctor ordered for any company that wants to grow when
the rest of the country is shrinking back!
The Bakken Oil Play is an unprecedented discovery of oil
in the northwest corner of North Dakota that stretches into
Canada and Montana and contains billions of barrels of
“sweet crude oil”. This oil is so clean that it comes out of
the ground looking like motor oil and it smells like diesel!
It’s cheaper to refine and there is more here than most of
the OPEC nations reserves combined. This is the place
you may have heard about where they drill down two
miles and then turn the bit horizontally for two more miles.
Once the well is drilled the hydrofracturing or “Frac” procedure is done. This “Fracing” forces sand and water into
the ground at high pressure, breaking cracks into the Bakken Shale formation to allow the trapped oil to be sucked
out!
Many oil companies are there drilling and that means lots
of work for anyone already there and just like the California gold rush, companies are in a “rush” to get in on this
“Black gold Rush”! Good for them and good for us, as
cheaper gas may soon be in our future. I’d guess just
before the elections next year we’ll hear a lot about the
reduction of American dependence on foreign oil and the
improvement that our nation’s economy will see as a result of this discovery!
As for our part of this “Rush” well things started late this
spring as our management team members began studying the opportunity for us. We had been asked to get involved by business acquaintances and government for
sometime because they need what we’ve got…That’s the
skill to make good product and construct projects large
and small.
Now, after a few weeks of studying the area and the business, we have jumped in with both feet!
4 PLOTE STEAMER | Fall 2011 River Aggregates LLC was launched and we now have
people and nice new equipment (thanks Dan!). So now
we’re crushing 980 miles northwest of here, 80 miles from
Canada and 35 mile from Montana, nearly 24/7!
We are setting up operations for River Aggregates in the
Watford City area and for Plote Construction, ND in the
Williston area about 45 miles north of Watford City. This
area is out on the rolling hills of the high plains and this is
where the Yellowstone River meets the head waters of
the Missouri River, hence the name “River” Aggregates.
All of these small prairie towns had modest populations
until the oil boom and now they have tens of thousands of
new residents living in man camps and sleeper cabs, to
serve the oil industry. So don’t drop everything and head
out there just yet! There is no room to rent! All of this to
say, there is a desperate need for housing, roads, and of
course construction materials! Asphalt concrete and rock,
that’s where we come in!
The plan is to get the aggregates business up and then
add the construction arm, then finally the house building
and commercial / industrial divisions as well.
Stay tuned, there’s a lot shaken’ in the Bakken and now
River Aggregates LLC is too……….
Dave Zumbrunn, General Manager
Drilling
New Plant
Production
Stockpile #2
Fall 2011 | PLOTE STEAMER 5 Rakow Road Reconstruction Project
Joint Venture with Curran Contracting
The Rakow Road reconstruction project in Lake in
the Hills has finally gained some visible momentum. After Mitch Wegrzyn’s crew completed all pre
-stage work in between rain drops and utility conflicts; Curran Contracting, our JV partner, laid
down temp. pavement and completed Stage 1
pavement removals. With the pavement removed,
Mitch’s crew completed most of Stage 1 topsoil
stripping and began the mass excavation operation, which included a detention basin. Chuck
Huffman and Dave Fewell took over at the beginning of July, when Mitch’s crew moved out to handle the entire Village of Schaumburg.
After completing the Lake in the Hills Street Market
project, Chuck and Dave’s crew came out in full
force and moved over 30,000cy of dirt in two
weeks. After patiently waiting for the sewer sub to
move in and out with their main drain, we covered
all of mainline Stage 1 with 15,000 tons of PGE in just over two days. Not too bad, even with trucks occasionally getting stuck in
the “Bank Run” PGE material delivered by Meyer Material. Capping aggregate follows closely behind, and sooner than later,
Mike Fanella’s crews will be out pouring PCC Base Course, Curb and Gutter, and Sidewalks!
-Mitch DeBoer, Project Engineer
6 PLOTE STEAMER | Fall 2011 I-55 “Milestone”
The IDOT (I-55) Stevenson Expressway Resurfacing Contract #60I64 from County Line Road to Kedzie Avenue has
a contractual milestone (interim) date of 5 AM, August 15th,
2011. The interim date requires that all contract items be
completed on I-55 from IL 50 (Cicero Avenue) to IL 43
(Harlem Avenue). This section of roadway comprises approximately half of the total contract work for Contract
60I64, which means 4,500 tons of Class D Patches, 30,000
tons of N80 SMA Binder, 30,000 tons of N80 SMA Surface,
40,000 tons of N70 Binder and Surface, along with 400,000
SY of various depth HMA surface removals. All work is
performed under nightly lane closures.
Plote was off to a great start with the patching and HMA
surface removal operations until we ran into numerous
nights of inclement weather along with other issues out of
our control. Although we did not meet the interim completion date due to these delays, we were issued a time extension to the interim date by IDOT for the 23 plus nights of
operations cancelled due to weather. All the required interim work was completed by the end of August 2011.
Plote now will move onto the next challenge of completing
the remaining half of the contract work to the West (1st Ave
to County Line Road) by the end of October 2011. With
Mother Nature’s cooperation, the well-oiled Plote machine
will be up for the challenge.
-Mike Schmidt, Project Manager
Fall 2011 | PLOTE STEAMER 7 Starting Orchard Rd – Plote Returns to Orchard Rd
Construction on the final stretch of the 4-Lane widening of Orchard Road from Jericho Road to US30 began in late July. Southern Kane County’s
most highly anticipated project was reeled in by
Patrick Gannon and Bill Madden in the April IDOT
letting.
Superintendants Hank Berenz and Pat Griffin are
at the reigns of the field operations. Excavation of
the 40,000 CY Jericho detention basin and a 10’
deep by 37’ wide undercut through swampy peat
material have been the highlights of Plote activity
thus far. The late July start has set up a real challenge for our crews to complete the SB concrete
pavement and get traffic switched before winter
weather takes hold.
Here’s to making Plote’s latest excursion into
Southern Kane County as successful as the last!
—Perry Wegman, Project Engineer
8 PLOTE STEAMER | Fall 2011 “I-90 Final 3rd”
Re-surfacing of I-90 between the Elgin Toll Plaza
and Roselle Road has progressed to the final traffic
stage. The inside shoulder and the left two mainline
lines are completely paved and all that remains is
the right mainline lane, the outside shoulder, and the
various ramps. While it would appear on its face
that the contract is therefore 3/5’s completed, there
is more to this job than meets the eye. Through mid
-August the job is only 44% complete based on the
total dollar value of the contract. The job includes
many other features outside of the re-surfacing
which have just gotten underway in August. The
other work includes significant drainage pipe repairs
& improvements, ditch and slope regarding & cleaning, CCTV camera installation, overhead sign replacement, significant bridge repairs at seven different structures and even reconstruction of a culvert
over Willow Creek 15 miles east of the farthest east
end of the resurfacing, just east of I-294. The contract is on schedule for substantial completion by
October 15th when all traffic will be restored to its
final configuration, but some of the various other
items of work not requiring permanent lane closures
will continue to the final contract completion date of
November 18th 2011.
—Terry Madden, Project Manager
PLOTE STEAMER | Fall 2011 9 O’HARE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT SOUTH AIRFIELD
RUNWAY 10R-28L TAXIWAY ZS
RACE AGAINST THE WEATHER
Plote Construction Inc. was awarded a 300-day, $6.2 million project by the Chicago Department of Aviation for the 2011
Construction Season. The project consists of a newly constructed 800 LF of Taxiway ZS to be part of the O’Hare Modernization Program (OMP), turning a system of intersecting runways into a modern parallel runway configuration. Due to the jobsite location and
the proximity of the adjacent active taxiways and runway, the project was originally contracted to be performed mainly at night, between the hours of 10pm – 6am, with an overall contraction completion of January 24, 2012. Project Manager Melanie Rowan submitted a proposal to the airport representatives requesting a full closure of Taxiway K for a continuous 90-days in order to construct
the proposed Taxiway ZS and all affiliated drainage and electrical work associated with this contract. This 90-day continuous closure
would allow all contractors to perform the majority of their work during the day time. In addition, the need for nightly remobilizations
and clean up would be greatly minimized since the adjacent taxiway would be closed to all aircraft for a consecutive 90-day duration.
This proposal would save both time and money for the OMP and Plote Construction Inc., and it was granted. Construction commenced on June 6, 2011.
During the first month of the 90-day closure, 10 days of work were cancelled due to weather and / or site conditions. The
month of July recorded the most precipitation in history at 11.15 inches, breaking the previous record set in 1889 at 9.56 inches. The
continuous rainfall caused the ground for the proposed Taxiway ZS as well as the dump location to become inaccessible, ultimately
adding delay to the already compressed schedule. In addition to weather delays, an Owner supplied material, Frost Protection
Course – RCB, to be utilized as the subbase, ran short of plan quantity. The Owner presented a field order to Plote to import approximately 6,000 ton of CA-1 and CA-6 in order to construct the subbase of proposed Taxiway ZS and move forward with the project.
When weather permitted, superintendent Norm Sander brought in extra personnel, equipment and trucking to increase production in an effort to make up for weather delays and lack of owner supplied material. In the mean time, Contractor delay meetings
were held between Plote and the representatives of O’Hare where Plote was granted 8 additional calendar days, moving the 90-day
closure completion date from September 3rd to September 11th. With the field in full force, an on time contract completion is anticipated.
—Ben Steele, Project Engineer
10 PLOTE STEAMER | Fall 2011 Safety
O’Hare Modernization Project
Plote Construction Inc. is working on their first O’Hare Modernization Project in three years and they are soaring to new levels of
excellence! We have modified our Health and Safety Plan to meet the O’Hare Modernization Project’s very detailed requirements. Working on a project like this involves an entirely different group of incidents and accidents that need to be avoided, including working adjacent to and underneath live taxiways. Since we have started out at O’Hare we have worked without a single
accident or safety violation. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Melanie Rowan, Norm Sander, Ben Steele and
Randy Manzara for going above and beyond to meet the extremely strict safety needs involved with the O’Hare Modernization
Project
—Shannon Strandberg, Safety Engineer
“GLOWING PERSONALITIES”
Thanks to their “Glowing Personalities” and hard work the Certified Flaggers on our I-55 job have helped move over twenty-five
thousand truckloads of material in and out of the work zone without an incident. We would like to thank Andy, Kenny R., Troy,
Joe, Ken S. and Dave for making sure this job is run with the safety of our employees and others as a top priority. Also we would
like to thank our Certified Flaggers and the rest of the crew on the Stevenson project for making sure that safety is an important
part of their job.
—Shannon Strandberg, Safety Engineer
Fall 2011 | PLOTE STEAMER 11 New Hires
PCI
PCI
PCI
PCI
PCI
CALEB
JOHN
MICHAEL
CHERYL
NICOLE
FELTMEYER
BERTHOLOMEY
FOSTER
THEURER
REIHER
PROJECT ENGINEER
SHOP
PROJECT MANAGER
ADMINISTRATIVE ASST. - OPERATIONS
FIELD QC ASST.
PCI
PCI
PH
WDR
PCI
RONALD
KAREN
KIM
RANDI
KURT
NUNZIATO
PLETTAU
LANG
HALEN
BOGOTT
OFFICE RUNNER
ADMINISTRATIVE ASST. - ESTIMATING
ADMINISTRATIVE ASST.
CATERING DIRECTOR
FINANCE MANAGER
First of all I would like to thank everybody for the warm welcome to
Plote Construction Inc. I started
here at Plote May 31st and was
immediately impressed by the company’s “Safety Culture” as a whole.
I was made aware of the fact that
the company had implemented a
Mandatory Hard Hat Rule the beginning of this year and I want to
say that EVERYONE is doing a
great job of making this new rule
part of their already outstanding
performance when it comes to getting the job done…..SAFELY.
Welcome Chris Kaufmann
Plote would like to welcome Chris Kaufmann to the Estimating Team. He
comes from R.L. Brink of Quincy, IL
where he was an Estimator for the past 3
years.
Let’s welcome Chris to the Plote Team.
Welcome Brenda Frick
Plote would like to introduce Brenda Frick
the new Dispatcher for Franklin Park. She
is the night time dispatcher, helping with
the team on Stevenson I-55.
Keep up the good work everybody!!
-Shannon Strandberg, Safety Eng.
12 PLOTE STEAMER | Fall 2011 7th Annual Plote Invitational Drag Day
Bob Castelli’s 1930 Ford
The 7th annual Plote Drag Race had to get postponed to June
26th, due to scheduling conflicts at the track, which made it
stressful for all of those involved in putting the drag race together. However we had a great day. One of the few days
without rain. There was even lots and lots of sun, my sunburn
proved that. As usual, I was running around like a crazy man
trying to keep everything moving, so that our 296 spectators
and 47 race cars wouldn’t get bored. We even tried our hand
in the first Plote car show, with 7 cars signed up just for the car
show.
We had some really fast cars in attendance. We started off eliminations with
the super bowl race of the day, a 66 purple normally aspirated Nova versus a
67 blue blown Nova. Both cars running in the low 8.30’s at 158 mph. The
purple 66 Nova driven by Fred Buerer finished the 6 car Super pro field number one. Tom Boehning’s wheelie popping 74 Vega took first in the Pro Open
class. Stephanie Sanders and her 81 Camaro, took first in Pro Eliminator. Brooke Giddings in her dad’s “fast” blue Tahoe took first in truck.
Kyle Costabie took first in motorcycle. And I took first in
the 23 car street class. After I
was caught sleeping on the
line and Steve Quickel nailed
the tree in Bubba’s 70 Chevelle
wagon, it broke the rear end
which gave me the win
light!!!!!!!!!! Thank you Steve.
To finish the day out, Bob Castelli’s 1930 Ford coupe took first in the car show. In all we had a blast, handing out
14 trophies in all.
We can always use volunteers to help with planning
and running the tent for next year’s event.
—Patrick Gannon, Estimator & Byron Event Organizer
P.S.—We miss you, Bob.
Fall 2011 | PLOTE STEAMER 13 Comcast
Recently we signed a deal with Comcast to bring high speed internet to the Plote main office and five other locations. This
deal was a long time coming as it took about a year to finalize. The deal will give us a vastly faster internet connection at a
price point that is lower than our current T1 technology. All the sites listed below will get either the 50M service or 100M service from Comcast. Currently, all our sites have a 1.5M service.
The locations:
-
PCI Main Office
Boulder Ridge
White Deer Run
Franklin Park
West Chicago
Bartlett
Now, for the $$:
With the Comcast upgrade, the negotiations will save us in two years up to 50% annually for high-speed internet cost at ten
times the service speed. Each entity will see a savings.
So, faster speed, less money. Win Win…
We hope to have the whole project done by December. We will be in touch with you as the project hits your sites.
— David Farley, Corporate IT Manager
IT Department
Mike Carlin, Dave Farley, Nick Hutchings
14 PLOTE STEAMER | Fall 2011 Illinois Tollway Board Approves $12 Billion Capital Plan
Public support at August hearings affirms Tollway’s investment in the future to provide congestion relief, create jobs and
stimulate the economy.
DOWNERS GROVE, IL – The Illinois Tollway Board of Directors approved the $12 billion capital plan, Move Illinois: The
Illinois Tollway Driving the Future, establishing a guide for infrastructure investments for 2012-2026 and setting a new toll
rate for passenger vehicles effective January 1, 2012. Board members voted 7-1 to adopt the 15-year plan that will provide
safer travel conditions and relieve congestion on the Tollway and throughout the region, in addition to creating jobs and
stimulating the economy.
Capital Plan Overview
The 15-year, $12 billion capital plan approved by the
Board includes $8.32 billion
to fund necessary improvements to the existing Tollway
System. These needs are programmed to be performed at
the right time to keep the
existing 286 miles of roadways in a state of good repair.
Projects include:
 Reconstructing and wid-






ening the 52-year-old
Jane Addams Memorial
Tollway (I-90) from the
Tri-State Tollway (I-294)
to Rockford
Reconstructing more
than 20 miles of the central Tri-State Tollway (I294) and the Edens Spur
(I-94)
Preserving the Reagan
Memorial Tollway (I-88)
Preserving the Veterans Memorial Tollway (I-355)
Repairing roads, bridges and maintenance facilities
Other capital projects, including local interchanges
In addition, the capital plan commits an additional $3.83 billion for new projects that focus on enhancing mobility, including:
 Constructing a new interchange at I-294/I-57, as well as the 147th Street ramps
 Constructing the Elgin O’Hare West Bypass, including completion of the Elgin O’Hare, construction of the West Bypass between I-90 and I-294 and rehabilitation and widening of the existing Elgin O’Hare Expressway
Thanks to all who attended and supported the program hearings!
— Dan Plote
Fall 2011 | PLOTE STEAMER 15 THE PLOTE
COMPANIES
Corporate Offices:
1100 Brandt Drive
Hoffman Estates, IL 60192
People in the News
Phone: 847-695-9300
Congratulations to:
E-mail: Info @plote.com
Website: www.plote.com
Keri Caduto was promoted to Corporate
Controller.
Tom and Colleen Zimmerman welcomed
their new granddaughter, Natalie Grace
Zimmerman on May 31st. She weighed in at
6-lbs. 7-oz. and was 19 ¼” long.
J. and Janet Pienkos welcomed their new
daughter, Colleen Rose on August 5th .
She weighed in at 7-lbs., 7-oz. and was 19
½”
long.
Brian Ralph was married to Colleen Morrissey on May 14th.
Mitch DeBoer was married on May 14th to
Megan Wyatt.
Dave Kueking married Sue Kottman on
June 11th.
Suzanne Paganelis was engaged to Steve
Leazzo on August 9th in Estes Park, Colorado at 10,000'
What’s Happening at Plote Construction? Let us know for the
next publication of the Plote Steamer -Submit Your Article in MS-Word format and
Pictures in JPEG format
Please E-Mail to:
Human Resource Dept., Linda Leach [email protected]
Deadline for
Submissions
11/17/11
Layout &
Editorial Review
11/23/11
2011 Milestone Anniversaries
Years
WDR
July
Gordon Moore
August
BRCC Richard Stromberg
WDR Jose Reyes
WDR Martin Palzet
PCI
PH
WDR
WDR
September
Mark Pisano
Randy Shores
Richard Valenzo
Timothy Loesch
October
BRCC Fernando Alba-Garcia
BRCC Dayna Schultz
The Happy Couple
5
5
5
5
20
15
5
5
5
5
November
PCI
Kim Caccamise
BRCC Louise Steinbach
10
10
December
Jose Escorza
5
WDR
16 PLOTE STEAMER | Fall 2011 Steamer
Distribution
12/2/11