Grate risers speed along median workProblem: Curtis Contracting was hired to rehabilitate 250 large median inlet grates (20- by 30-inch and 30- by 30-inch, with grates weighing 80 to 90 and 150 pounds) in Virginia. The rehabilitation featured multiple asphalt lifts totaling up to 6.5 inches of new pavement. Since federal and state highway safety specifications called for no more than a 2-inch differential between pavement and other surfaces at any time, CCI was looking at raising 250 inlet grates multiple times during the course of the work. Raising them conventionally by excavating and installing new concrete rims would have
