Delayed gratification is a challenging concept in today’s society, but motorists in Queen Creek can espouse its benefits with the recent completion of work by DCS Contracting. Still, the company’s $11.1 million Rittenhouse Road Improvement project proved a temporary irritant for drivers over its 12-month span.
“Our most interesting interaction with the public were commuters who were not happy with the lane restrictions that needed to be in place to perform our work safely,” Eugene Hernandez, DCS project manager, says. But those same disgruntled motorists are now happily humming along the newly expanded asphalt road.
The construction project widened Rittenhouse Road from Riggs Road to just south of Ocotillo Road. “We turned a two-lane road into four-lanes,” Hernandez says. “By widening Rittenhouse, it took a lot of the traffic burden off Ellsworth Road and provided commuters with another way to navigate through Queen Creek from San Tan Valley.”
DCS also installed new traffic signals at Cloud Road, Creekside Road, Village Loop North, and Village Loop South, along with a new storm drain system with multiple retention basins to help with runoff.
According to Hernandez, the most unusual aspect of the Rittenhouse project was work involving a new railroad spur crossing at Schnepf Farms, which included new gates and signals, and its associated ITS and waterline underground bores.
DCS used subcontractors for many of these tasks, including Utility Construction Company for traffic signals, new ITS installation and Salt River Project conversion work, and Mountain States Contracting for the railroad spur track installation.
“Coordinating with Union Pacific Railroad for the installation of the signal work at the railroad spur crossing and Salt River Project to perform their utility relocate were the project’s biggest challenges,” Hernandez says.
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This article originally appeared in the bimonthly Arizona Contractor & Community magazine, Nov/Dec 2021 issue, Vol. 10, No. 6.