Construction Equipment Guide
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Wed November 29, 2000 - Southeast Edition
Lots of rain and tight work schedules throughout the night are just two of the challenges crews of Southern West Virginia Paving faced during the complete rehabilitation of two runways at Lynchburg Regional Airport in Virginia.
The project consisted of resurfacing, some deep paving, drainage, and electrical work at runway 3-21 and runway 17-35 at the airport. On runway 3-21, crews worked on about 96,000 sq. yds. (80,268 sq m). There was work done to about 32,000 sq. yds. (26,756 sq m) on runway 17-35.
The work started on July 17 and was complete on Oct. 25. The project was originally scheduled to last only 90 days, but Mother Nature had other plans. Heavy rains during that time forced the crews to extend the project into a 101-day project.
“It rained a lot down there during that period,” said Kevin Bragg, vice president of commercial division for West Virginia Paving.
The paving crew consisted of about 10 workers with five others who handled milling projects and miscellaneous tasks. All of the work had to be completed between midnight to 6 a.m. with some 36-hour weekend closures.
During the work, the airport maintained a schedule of commercial and private flights in and out the facility. The city of Lynchburg owns the airport. As the client, it set up strict penalties for time overages.
“The time limitations were stringent,” Bragg said. They were fined $50 a minute if we weren’t open by 6 a.m. and they were penalized $2,000 per day if they were late delivering the project.
“It was a challenge to get the work done in such a short time frame,” Bragg said. “You couldn’t get out there to start until midnight. By the time you got all the equipment out there and set up, you could only work for about three or four hours before you had to get off the site. You would get fired up and then have to leave.”
In addition, the project called for paving to be done in 25-ft. (7.6 m) wide strips.
“It is not something you do everyday,” Bragg said. “But it made sense for this project because they wanted to minimize the number of longitudinal joints. That would minimize the potential for cracking later.”
In order to provide the materials quickly and eliminate having to truck materials across town, Southern West Virginia Paving set up a portable asphalt plant on site.
“It helped us control our time better,” Bragg said, adding there was a separate crew on site to operate the portable plant. The same crew travels with the portable site wherever it goes.
“The crew goes with the plant,” he said. “That is the only way to go.”
The equipment used during the project was brought in to help the crew combat the tight work schedule. They used several rollers and pavers. The primary paver was a Blaw-Knox 5510 track paver that could be set up to install the required 25-ft. (7.6 m) wide strips. The backup paver was the Blaw-Knox PF 180.
“We like the Blaw-Knox machines,” Bragg said. “The 5510 model is capable to set up at 25 ft. and able to handle the load. About 80 to 90 percent of our machines are Blaw-Knox. The reliability is the main thing. We have had very good luck with them over the years.”
West Virginia Paving also used three Caterpillar rollers and two Ingersoll-Rand rollers. A Dynapac was on site as a spare. While the Cat rollers were rentals, the other machines are owned by Southern West Virginia Paving.
Luckily, the crews experienced no major breakdowns with the equipment. But if they had, backup machines were in place and ready to roll.
“We had to make sure if we broke down we had spare equipment sitting there,” Bragg said.
The original contract amount on the project was $3.8 million. The project ended “reasonably close to that figure,” Bragg said.
Bragg, who works for West Virginia Paving, said he was called in to help because Southern West Virginia Paving is affiliated with West Virginia Paving and the Shelly Company. Oldcastle Materials owns all of the companies.
Southern West Virginia Paving has five permanent plants and they set up portable asphalt plants as needed. The company, which is headquartered in Beckley, WV, works primarily in the West Virginia and Virginia area.