Mowing Interstate Highway Right-of-way

[oosik]

Around here they plant something on the highway cuts that doesn't need mowing or, at least, it sure doesn't GET mowed. Any roadside cutting is done with a cutter mounted on a long hydraulic arm off the 3-point hitch. The unwary motorist soon learn to move to the outer lane when passing one of those units when its cutting.

 

[dave1949]

The NY Thruway uses mostly flails, and as mentioned I-95 in Maine too.

I imagine the roadside and median terrain makes choosing one or the other necessary. Dual side-mounted flail mowers with hydraulic control would be more expensive I think than a pull type mower. Maybe they don't spend on complicated flail setups if they don't need them.

If there is a roadside in Maine that gets mowed, besides our few interstates, I don't know where it is.

 

[big bubba]

it looks dangerous esp on 2 lane hwys. even as a young man, i'd never consider doing that job given slopes & multi tasking traffic. actually, a far greater safety concern i think is the compulsion of many homeowners (many retired like me) to mow their lawn bordering the shoulder along those same highways. oh sure, it looks nice & suburban when mowed, but puts everyone at risk. let the hwy dept do it w/trained personnel & equip! but many still risk life & limb for that finished look. personally, not worth the risk given the nature of today's drivers.

 

[tcartwri]

Last year the city had deployed a bunch of remote controlled mowers for the really crazy slopes around here. Haven't seen them in a while though.

One morning I saw a young contractor going straight up and down an absolutely impossible slope on a 4x4 kubota, it must have been 50 plus degrees. I closed my eyes and looked away. Maybe I'm just old....

 

[Gator6x4]

Most tractors I have seen mowing steep areas have a Flail Mower on the back and a position controllable "Weight Box" mounted on one side of the tractor. They keep the weight box up-hill. Someone also told me, don't know if true, the oil tube pickup has also been modified to insure the engine continues to be properly oiled when being driven sideways across steep slopes.

 

[KiotiKowboy]

I always wondered if those rigs had seats that would swivel to level while on those inclines. Seems pretty tiring to think the operator is in there trying to stay in his chair.

 

[roadhunter]

I'd like to share a beer with one of the folks who mows right of ways. I bet they get to see some interesting stuff.

 

[jd870]

It seems to me that most of the flail mowers are used by the states,counties,cities, townships, etc. The mowing contractors use the rotary bush hog type cutters.

 

[YardBikeBob]

It seems to me that most of the flail mowers are used by the states,counties,cities, townships, etc. The mowing contractors use the rotary bush hog type cutters.

Well sure! Without a profit motive, flail mowers are a no brainer! I think the committee would say something like "They cost 3 times as much but less likely to toss something out resulting in a lawsuit."

I've driven the I-44 turnpike through Oklahoma more than once. It is a toll way and is expensive. And it has the widest, prettiest, nicest groomed shoulders I've ever seen. I always sorta wondered about that contract. It would be the full-time job for a generation of families.

Bob

 

[Sysop]

In Almost Heaven, our state road has fleets of huge 2WD massey ferguson cabbed tractors. They run TIGER branded flails, have the tires set out wide, and a HUGE underbelly assembly with an additional hydraulic tank acting as front suitcase weights. I see them on hillsides that you cannot stand on moxing in all directions. At times you will see them going sideways across a hill so steep a regular tractor would have issues going straight up and down, they will have the front wheels turned up the hill slightly, using the brake to drag the rear wheel on the uphill side, with the tire on the downhill side pushing it all along with it all trying to slide down the hill the entire time... They do not have a flail on the downhill side, only the rear and right side, which they keep uphill. There are times one will set for quite a while at the roadside and I wonder if it is just too wet to do that area at that time or if they broke something. Only once have I seen one that was visually apparently stranded, and that was a flat tire spun halfway off the rim.