AEI was the lead design firm for a four-year, $180 million design-build construction project including improvements to I-265, I-64 and I-71 through a heavily traveled corridor in Jefferson and Oldham counties, KY. The overall project includes over 28 miles of roadway re-construction and widening, eight bridge widenings, five new bridges, 5.7 miles of noise barrier walls, and nine RCBC extensions. The objective of the project was to improve safety, relieve congestion, lessen construction impacts and provide lower-cost solution while improving the roads and bridges with available funds. The project will be completed in 2023, three years earlier than estimated with the traditional design-bid-build approach. Highlights of the project include:

I-265/I-64 Interchange Reconstruction – Kentucky’s first turbine interchange. The interchange eliminates the two highest volume loop ramps on the east side of I-265 and weaves the two new directional ramp alignments under I-265 and over I-64 that diverge as two separate ramps at different locations and eliminate the weave along I-265. AEI completed the Interchange Modification Report (IMR) that included traffic operation analysis, weave analysis, and evaluated network-wide statistics using PTV Vissim traffic simulator software. A safety analysis of the interchange was also included in the IMR using FHWA’s Interactive Highway Safety Design Model (IHSDM) to compare the safety performance of interchange alternatives.

AEI provided the initial conceptual designs, technical design consultation, and QA/QC for the Brownsboro Road Bridge over I-71, two I-265 bridges in the proposed turbine interchange, Aiken Road bridge widenings, and the I-265 bridge over Avoca Road to replace a severely corroded long-span metal arch. We provided complete design and detailing for a 20-ft tall reinforced concrete retaining wall along the south approach to the Brownsboro Road Bridge. This wall was designed to resist a collision force from a TL-2 design vehicle and an extreme event II, using yield line analysis as required to meet the new crash wall standards.

A Collector-Distributor (C-D) road for WB I-71 that takes the I-265 SB and NB ramps into one single exit point from mainline onto the ramp which is separated with a concrete barrier median between it and mainline. It also picks up the I-265 NB traffic merging onto I-71 WB. This C-D road creates a longer weave movement from the high speeds of I-71 and creates a safer situation for the traveling public. A unique aspect of design and cost savings was to build a soil nail retaining wall under the I-265 Bridge to hold back the existing spill through slope of the bridge’s end bent. This allowed room for the C-D roadway to be built without modification to the overpass I-265 bridge.

AEI designed the project using Bentley’s OpenRoads Designer (ORD) software to develop the existing and proposed DTMs. AEI modeled the entire roadway backbone, fill and cut slopes, roadway ditches and all grade and radii transitions with Bentley’s software.

AEI performed Sue Level A and B on most underground utility crossings. Knowing the exact location of the utilities under the roadway, under noise walls, and with other potential conflicts, allowed the designer to keep impacts to a minimum.

Ten separate noise walls covering 36,200 feet were included in the design scope.

AEI provided five box culvert extensions and two reinforced concrete arch culvert extensions.