Quartz Flats rest area reopens

The reopening ceremony at the westbound Quartz Flats rest area on I-90 was attended by several community members — however the notables that were involved in the project were happy to shake hands with one another as this was a conglomerate of an awful lot of people and moving parts to make this happen.

Ed Toavs, a member of the CE & I Team (Consultant, Engineering & Inspection) explained how this project was unique for everyone involved because it was a Design-Build Contract.

“Most of what Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) does, probably 90%, is what is known as Design-Bid-Build. This means that MDT either designs a project, like a roadway or bridge and in this case a rest-area. They bid it out competitively with low bid receiving the contract and then it’s constructed. But with Design-Build, MDT develops what they call a 30% plan-package with the preliminary basic stuff and then they put it out for Design-Build. Contractors will partner with engineering firms and then they compete to get the project. For this project, Dick Anderson Construction plus WGM Group and then CWG Architects were awarded the contract. This team not only does the construction, but their engineers take the preliminary design and make their own design all the way to stamped plans which has proven to be a more efficient process for the overall time frame and quality control all the way to completion.”

The buildings on each side mirror each other with four private men’s and women’s bathrooms. Two drinking fountains in the middle of the build with one made for refilling water bottles. It has a forced air HVAC system that’s an air source heat pump with an air conditioning back up.

Loren Frazier, PE and Consultant Manager & Chairman of the Transportation Commission said, “When you look at the cost of the rest areas, these were $9 million, you may think that they are high but you’re really getting a public water supply system and a wastewater treatment system built for the size of a small town or large subdivision.

"About 2,500 people a day use these areas,” as he was including both east and west bound rest areas on I-90. And this number is expected to increase, even with gas prices rising daily.

Explaining the process, Frazier said that they pump the solids out and the water is treated through a series of tanks with bacteria and then pumped over to the drain field on the other side of the interstate. The new sewer pipe under I-90 was installed by boring and jacking into place the new pipe which is 30 feet underground and under I-90 to the drain field which is just east of the east bound rest area that both facilities share.

“The guy that designed the system said you can drink the water as it comes out before it goes into the drain field. I won’t, but he can,” he chuckled.

“We still have some minor cleanup punch-list work to do as far as the final report like a few more garbage cans. But for the most part, this project is up and running. It’s done, functional and ready to go,” said Nate Young, PE, TD&H Engineering out of the Great Falls Office who is also part of the CE & I Team and was another impressed individual with the completed plan.

“The project was exceptional,” beamed Malcolm ‘Mack’ Long, Director of the Montana Transportation Department. “We allow them to use their expertise. We know what we want, but we don’t need to design it all. We can use the contractors and designers and say, ‘Here is our vision’ and they are excellent at making it look beautiful and finding ways to do it faster and more efficiently. And that’s what we’re trying to do by building these partnerships so we can do more of these,” as he was referring to the Design-Build concept.

All of the organizations and companies involved in the development would like to thank the Mineral County residents, the USFS and the traveling public for their patience while construction closed the rest stops but believe everyone will be very delighted to see what was built over the last 15 months.