QUIKRETE® Helps Restore Historic Route 66

Words: Matthew Adams/Public/News/20110329060000-1.jpg" width="600" height="338" border="0" alt="QUIKRETE® FastSet™ Concrete Mix is used to help restore Route 66." />
QUIKRETE® FastSet™ Concrete Mix is used to help restore Route 66.
What does it take to repair an American landmark in a city made famous by a quintessential American rock band?

Try America’s most trusted brand of packaged concrete.

U.S. Route 66 — the “Main Street of America,” as it’s known to many — dates to 1926 and is a quintessential American icon. But, even landmarks such as the “Mother Road” need to be repaired every so often to keep them up and running for another generation.

So, city officials in Winslow — the city made famous by The Eagles’ 1972 hit song “Take it Easy” — selected Phoenix-based dbA Construction to repair this famed federal highway. As part of the project, which lasted from April to July 2009, dbA Construction turned to The QUIKRETE® Companies, which because of its vast distribution network successfully supplied contractors with the materials needed to guarantee project deadlines were met.

The project comprised of a full-depth and partial-depth repair of a 12-block section in downtown Winslow. In total, dbA Construction used 8,610 70-pound bags of QUIKRETE® FastSet™ Concrete Mix for the project.

“QUIKRETE® FastSet™ Concrete Mix had the right setup time with the traffic control constraints and the phasing of the project,” said Jay Cano, project manager for dbA Construction.

QUIKRETE® FastSet™ Concrete Mix, which achieves 3,000 psi in three hours and 7,000 psi in 28 days, provides 20-30 minutes working time for mixing, placing and finishing operations. The fast- setting, high early strength concrete mix is designed to build or repair sidewalks, driveways, highways, bridge decks, parking lots and floors.

QUIKRETE® FastSet™ Concrete Mix has less shrinkage than ordinary Portland cement concrete. The mix is available with an integral corrosion inhibitor in cases where maximum corrosion protection is desired, and the addition of corrosion inhibitor has no adverse effect on the other physical properties of the product.

“With QUIKRETE® FastSet™ Concrete Mix, crews had a product they could rely on to cure quickly without losing any compressive strength,” said Ken Diloreto, QUIKRETE® sales representative. “By selecting QUIKRETE® FastSet™ Concrete Mix for this work, crews were able to keep to a minimum how long lanes were closed and thereby ensuring traffic flowed through Winslow as routinely as possible while the roadwork was completed.”

Of course, the location also added to the overall uniqueness of the project.

“Working on Route 66 and getting to see all the tourists coming to stand on the corner of Winslow certainly made this project unique,” Cano said.
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