Ocean Terminal Phase I

Owner:

Georgia Ports Authority

Designer:

Moffat & Nichol

Paving Contractor:

Morgan Corp.

Paving Machine:

Volvo 7820 with high density screed

Mixing Plant:

Rapidmix 600C

General Contractor:

Morgan Corp.

Completion Date:

2012

Project Details:

In 2012, the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) awarded a contract to Morgan Corp. to expand the capabilities of its Ocean Terminal, located off the banks of the Savannah River in Savannah, Georgia, to provide more storage for the loading and offloading of medium duty cargo at their primary terminal.

A value-engineered roller compacted concrete (RCC) pavement design proposed by Morgan Corp. was approved by the GPA and the GPA’s Engineer of Record (EOR). The RCC pavement had to be structurally equivalent to their typical 5” HMA over 10” dense graded aggregate base design without adding additional cost. The GPA selected Morgan Corp. to build the project, which included the demolition of existing pavements, grading, underground utilities, high mast light poles, cement treated base, and RCC paving. Morgan Corp., a commercial, industrial, and heavy highway site development contractor since 1945, had the required experience and were well positioned to meet the owner’s expectations. Morgan Corp. started building RCC pavements in 2008 and, as of 2012, had successfully completed several projects in the Southeastern U.S.

Morgan Corp. provided value engineered options to GPA engineers that compared GPA’s typical hot mix design to RCC designs based on industry-accepted design methods. Morgan Corp. showed the GPA and the EOR that a seven-inch layer of RCC over a nine-inch layer of cement-treated base (CTB) would provide a 33 percent higher strength at an initial cost savings of 19 percent when compared to their typical HMA design.

RCC has been widely used in heavy duty paving applications in ports and intermodal facilities across the nation, particularly in the Southeast. RCC’s meteoric growth in those applications has been nothing short of

incredible. Industry leaders continue to seek additional GPA projects where RCC can be utilized to extend service life and reduce maintenance cost at a very competitive initial cost.

Recently visited by Morgan Corp and industry personnel attending the National Concrete Consortium meeting in Savannah, GA, in April of 2023, this RCC project is still performing well after 11 years of service handling imported and exported cargo ranging from passenger vehicles to the heaviest mining equipment and including crated shipments weighing more than 120,000 lbs. each. The project has required zero maintenance to date.