Lima Vine Street Underpass/Rail Separation 

About

Tuttle Construction teamed up with RD Jones Excavating to build the Lima-Vine Street Underpass/Rail Separation Project. The project was funded with the federal stimulus money. The underpass includes features of locomotives built in Lima and attractive lighting, fencing, and landscaping.  Built on a fast-track schedule, this project allows the city’s south side vehicle and pedestrian traffic to move freely, bypassing north-south train traffic. The project included building two (2) sets of temporary railroad tracks while maintaining railway traffic on them and replacing the tracks to the original orientation at project competition constructing an impressive bridge and retaining wall systems, a 10,000 GPM storm water pumping station, installing attractive lighting, landscaping, sidewalks, and curbs.

This project had its share of challenges. To name a few, 3 owners, 3 contractors, 8 subcontractors, 6 architects/engineers, and 25 long-time inner city property owners that didn’t share the same love for the project as the building team. This made for an exciting yet daunting project. Add to this a first-time joint venture for the project team, an extremely confined site, an inflexible railroad schedule, and more rain than the county had seen in over ten years!

This spectacular $15 million project took 21 months to complete and required continual, detailed contractor and equipment coordination, complex scheduling, and meticulous time management. It was completed $36,000 under the project budget, even after 14 change orders! The road opening date occurred on the exact date as originally intended, 16 months prior to completion.

Project Owner