18┃ Colorado Public Works Journal Sunland Asphalt had the opportunity of a lifetime: pave the Formula 1 racetrack in Florida for the Miami Grand Prix. If you were a football player, this would be the Superbowl. But there was a long road ahead (no pun intended). Selection Process “Winning the project required a multi-step selection process that Sunland would have to navigate.” stated Construction Director, Immanuel Martinez. “This included an initial meeting with the Miami F1 Ownership team and their construction team to discuss Sunland’s experience in paving, specifically withy echelon racetracks. Final interviews included Sunland’s in-depth understanding of the project’s specifications, as well as answering more in-depth questions regarding staffing and equipment availability for construction, construction methodology, different technical scenarios, and crew/equipment capabilities.” Pre-Construction Planning “When it comes to pre-construction planning and coordination for a project of this magnitude, it is quite extensive. There is coordination for Sunland to get all their construction equipment and teams across the country, planning with the design and engineering teams, and coordination with the Hard Rock stadium, Miami Dolphins, and South Florida Motorsports,” said Immanuel Martinez. “The coordination began with the logistics of moving our teams and equipment from Arizona to southern Florida. Sunland partnered with our vendors RDO and Empire Caterpillar to source equipment that was needed from around the country: from Minnesota, Arizona, Tennessee, and surrounding areas. “Sunland also had to coordinate the logistics of flights, transportation, and hotels for our crews. In total, Sunland brought Chasing Millimeters in Miami: Every Paving Contractors Dream Getting the opportunity to construct a Formula 1 racetrack is the pinnacle for any paving contractor. There is no bigger stage when it comes to milling and paving. in over 40 pieces of heavy equipment on 35 different transport loads, 75 internal employees, and 15 technical specialists.” “Once our management team arrived on site, planning the coordination of the construction process commenced. This intricate process included working with the general contractor Moss, South Florida Motorsports, and the Miami Dolphins to plan our milling and paving process while minimizing our impact to the ongoing football schedule of the Miami Dolphins, the extensive bleacher and sit build-out process, and the paddock building expansion that was going to be ready for race day. Not only did Sunland have to coordinate around those obstacles, we also had understood that there are only certain areas on a racetrack where it is acceptable to have a transverse paving joint. This meant that starting points, ending points, and the amount of asphalt tons needed to be precise. In total, Sunland had 35 different iterations of phase maps detailing our paving phase options. The phasing ended up being divided into 6 different phases or days. Each day equated to approximately 1,200 tons.” Sub Selection “As is known within any kind of construction project, the selection of subcontractors is most important. They can often make or break a successful project, and it’s your name on the line. Sunland regularly has a very thorough and extensive sub selection process. We felt confident in that process. Knowing that this project would be on the largest stage for milling and paving in the world, while being held to the highest specifications with the tightest tolerances that leave little room for error, we chose to work with contractors that we worked with previously and helped us achieve this opportunity. These subcontractors were CMT, S3 Arizona, Sitetech, Topcon, AMS Technical Services, Western Technologies, Empire Machinery, and RDO Equipment.” Images: © Mark Taylor at Extreme Arial Productions
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