PROJECTS UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Mill Avenue Underpass

THE newest unit in Arizona's grade separation program is the Mill Avenue underpass. This improvement is on the TempeChandler highway about one mile south of Tempe, where Mill Avenue intersects the Southern Pacific main line. It was commenced June 12, 1937 and completed November 7, 1937. Auto traffic passes under the track in two twelve-foot lanes and pedestrians go by a separate sidewalk and tunnel.The main underpass is a single span of reinforced concrete and is designed as a rigid frame. The pedestrian tunnel is a box of reinforced concrete and is entirely separated from the highway portion of the structure. Conditions at this site were different from any before encountered in Arizona, and, to meet them, several novel ideas were put in use. In this location underground water sometimes rises nearly to the surface of the ground and, if ordinary pavement had been used this water would have lifted the pavement slab out of place and flooded the roadway. To forestall this possibility, the pavement was made extremely thick so that its weight and that of the walls above it would more than balance the uplift caused by the water. Then all the joints in the pavement and walls were made watertight by placing continuous strips of copper across them and into the concrete on each side. In effect, the lower part of the structure is a boat of reinforced concrete, so heavy that it stays settled on the bottom.Before the structure was built, an irrigation ditch passed under Mill Avenue just south of the railroad track. This ditch could not be permanently abandoned, and it was impracticable to place it across the highway at any other point. The only alternative was to carry the water across the road near the structure. A welded steel pipe (30 inches in diameter), supported on concrete piers, was placed above the roadway near the main underpass structure and the water now passes above both auto and pedestrian traffic.

The land on all sides of the underpass site is irrigated and it was feared that gophers might dig through from nearby ditches into the excavation and flood the highway. To prevent such an occurence, the slope surfaces were protected with a Gunite concrete lining two inches thick. The project was built for Maricopa county with funds provided by the United States government. Vinson and Pringle Co., Phoenix, were contractors, and Geo. E. Lang, resident engineer.

LEE MOOR CONTRACTING COMPANY

807 BASSETT TOWER EL PASO, TEXAS

THE COLORADO BUILDERS SUPPLY CO.

Specialists on Reinforced Steel Mesh Guard, Fence Stays 1534 Blake Street, Denver Plants at Denver and Pueblo

Producing –Refining – Marketing

A COMPLETE UNIT OF THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY--PRODUCERS.. REFINERS--MARKETERS.

RICHFIELD PETROLEUM PRODUCTS ARE AVAILABLE THROUGH. OUT THE SOUTHWEST.

RICHFIELD OIL CORPORATION

Modern Efficiency in Highway Bridges

IS ACHIEVED WITH

Armco Multi Plate Waterways

In Full Circle or Arch form, singly or in battery, they often care for streams of several hundred square feet in cross-sectional area.

All over the country they are replacing narrow and unsafe structures as in the instance pictured here.

Unharmed by Fire or Frost or moderately Settling Foundations, and wholly immune to damage by Worms, Bugs and Termites.

Multiplate Waterways are

Good for a Half Century of Service

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Western Metal Manufacturing Company

1500 South Central Avenue

Phoenix, Arizona

P. O. Box 1585

SAFETY NOTES GIVE THE POOR ENGINEERS A BREAK !

THEY REALIZE THAT SOME OF OUR HIGHWAYS ARE TOO NARROW TO HANDLE HEAVY TRAFFIC SAFELY, AND THEY ARE WORKING EVERY DAY TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.۰۰۰

DRIVE SAFELY