A new GPS controlled Cat D6N dozer from Ring Power is leading the way for Brewer Paving & Development Inc. The company is currently at work on a $3.5 million project with the help of a new GPS machine control system. The project includes two-lane roadways approximately 2 mi. (3.2 km) long, housing pads and storm drainage, reuse lines, water lines and sewers for The Viera Company in Viera, Fla. Crews are working to ensure the road conforms to standard DOT specifications.

Work on the 55-acre site will require moving nearly 250,000 cu. yds. (191,139 cu m) of fill dirt and 60,000 cu. yds. (45,874 cu m) of muck. Fill dirt is supplied from four lakes on total of nearly 10 acres. These lakes are cut to a depth of 18 ft. (5.5 m), and the material is moved using Cat haul trucks. The maximum haul is about three-quarters of a mi.

The deepest cut for utility lines is 18 ft. for the sewer lines. One Cat and four Komatsu excavators will be used for digging the lakes and putting in the utility lines. No lift stations are included on this section of the job as the sewers tie into existing lift stations.

The most unique feature of the job according to Shane Brewer, vice president and operations manager of Brewer Paving & Development Inc., is the use of a GPS controlled Cat D6N dozer.

"We have never used a GPS machine before and were very skeptical," said Brewer. "However, after three days on the job we were convinced of its value because of the increase in productivity in sloping the sides of the lakes and cutting the grade on housing pads. Always before it was a process of digging and then shooting grades to get to the right slope on a lake or right grade on a house pad. Now there is no extra material being hauled in and then hauled out again."

Greg Hasty of Sitech helped set up the GPS and machine control using a Cat AccuGrade system. Sitech took the site plan in a PDF format and the project engineer, BSE Engineering's PWG AutoCAD files, compared them and assigned control point elevations to the PWG file. Afterward, the file was transferred to the SPS 855 base station, SPS 985 rover unit and the machine control unit on the Cat D6N dozer. The base station provides the control signals for the dozer.

"Using this system we can control grade to plus or minus one-tenth of an inch," said Hasty.

Another challenge on the project is the existing water table, according to Billy Joe Brewer, president of Brewer Paving & Development Inc.

"We are having to wellpoint a lot to get the utilities in and doing some open excavation pumping while digging the lakes," said Brewer. "We are continually shifting the water around."

Crews are using four Cat articulated trucks for hauling material and may add two more when they start the cut and fill de-mucking operation. An excavator will load an articulated truck and haul it to a storage area to be used later for green areas. On the way back it will pick up a load of fill and dump it in the same location.

Billy Joe Brewer and his wife of 42 years, Debbie Brewer, founded Brewer Paving & Development Inc. 12 years ago. They usually work within a 125-mi. radius of Cocoa, Fla., and projects have included public and private work. The Brewer's focus has always been on using the talents of their employees, and as they put it, putting God first. Many of their employees have been with them since the start of Brewer Paving.

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