Construction Practices
Milling Paving
This section describes any additions to best practices covered in this manual that are specifically applicable to offpeak nighttime paving. Other best practices are not repeated here. Most nighttime specific construction practices are related to (1) reduced visibility at night, (2) cooler temperatures at night, (3) the limited amount of time available for construction and (4) reducing the risk of opening late.
Overall Coordination
Nighttime closures are relatively short ranging from about 7-10 hours. In order to achieve reasonable productivity and reopen on time, construction activities must be closely coordinated and must often occur simultaneously. For instance, usually airfield pavements are wide enough to accommodate both milling and paving (See Image). Typically the milling machine will start and after several passes the paving machine will start as the milling continues. With this close coordination, special attention needs to be paid to:
- Safety. Simultaneous operations means more equipment operating. Personnel should always be aware of equipment location and movement. This is especially critical with dump trucks as they move relatively quickly (when compared to a paver, milling machine or roller) and may follow more than one route in the workzone as some are headed to the milling machine and some are headed to the paver.
- Dust and debris. Surface preparation that creates dust and debris (such as milling) should be done downwind of paving operations so that the prevailing wind carries the dust and debris away from the fresh mat. This means that nightly work plans can change depending upon the prevailing wind condition
