Highway construction NOT using scrapers

[dawoodwa]

We will use scrapers if conditions are right, we use 627''s and TS-14's on some jobs if it is a short haul and not a significant cut. The double barrel scrapers work good on lake construction and grading for chicken house pads. On jobs that have deep cuts we will use a mass excavator, usually renting a Komatsu PC450 with a large bucket and short stick and loadout 35 ton trucks. We have used a PC650 with a large bucket and were able to load a 35t truck in 3 passes. I prefer sitting on the excavator than sitting on a scraper and having a dozer giving me whiplash when he falls in to push.

 

[Turkeyman]

My hunt club is in a working rock quarry that is expanding. They estiamte that in 5 yrs they will need to move 26,000,000 cubic yards of overburden. The spoil pile is 1 1/2 miles from the pit and they use 6 CAT 794 mining trucks that hold 45 yds (w/ side boards). They load it with a 385 CAT track hoe and a 8 yard bucket, 5-6 buckets per truck. So far in 9 months they have moved 5% or 1,300,000 cu yds. The dirt pile is 110 ft tall and covers 40 acres (incld dikes and 3 catch ponds). They get about 8 dumps per hr. D-7/8 push the piles and it is very impressive to watch.

 

[caver]

 

[Foton404]

Depends on the job. Scrapers are much better suited for hauling large volumes of dirt. Small jobs are better suited for truck hauling. Large jobs like major highway construction are not conducive to dig and haul. Scrapers can go where trucks can't go. I operated a 631 Cat on an interstate job, it was continuous...load..haul..unload, non-stop. This was a million yard job. It is not reasonable that excavators can dig out and load the same volumes of hard soil such as clay without a laborious time consuming effort. Now they have D-11s that can operate scrapers unassisted for smaller jobs. But trucks can go where scrapers can't go, such as hauling on completed hard surfaced roads, so they each have their place. If you are contracting a 500,000 cubic yard job, you'd go with the heavier equipment.

 

[slowzuki]

I have never seen a pan scraper on a highway project here in NB. Not one.

Dozers, escavators, trucks, graders and compactors are the equipment used.

 

[Egon]

Too much rock.

 

[Renze]

Scrapers can go where trucks can't go.

Here in Holland, most contractors use tractor drawn dumptrailers, because they can employ untrained 16 year old labor. With trucks, they'd have to employ certified truckdrivers, comply to the driving time law (which means that you cant drive for more than 3 hours continuously, and 8 hrs a day, so much break time, and you have to keep the tachograph disks to prove it to the police or labour inspection)
Also because tractor drawn trailers on big tires go where trucks cant go.

Trucks are only used on the long hauls. Even in a village, a truck cant go faster than a tractor because you cant speed up anyways...

 

[PILOON]

Might it have something to do with the low bid and what the low bidder has available for equipment??

There may also be space limitations.

Contract specifications?

And a host of other factors???

I believe that mostly road work is all about 'good boy' contacts. (ie political donations)

Most often the contractor that is awarded the bid does not own the equipment and it is leased from the manufacture or a specialized leasing firm.

That way the 'low bidder' who most often is working on a 'cost plus' basis simply does not care as the the cost of renting as the more it costs the more he makes.

Also when audited they can prove that all costs were directly attributed to the job in question as there remains no assets.

Heck, here in Montreal area a highway overpass contract was awarded to th 'lowest bidder' (looks good) who did not even have a contractors permit.
He simply used a buddies name (for billing purposes) however thay did not really know what they were doing and the overpass collapsed during construction and killed a motorist.

Oh, and on those big contracts, well usually they are 'by invitation only'!
And funny, there always seems to be major cost overruns, heck why not, there is no real money in cost plus 10%!

 

[ToaDisco]

I believe that mostly road work is all about 'good boy' contacts. (ie political donations)

Most often the contractor that is awarded the bid does not own the equipment and it is leased from the manufacture or a specialized leasing firm.

That way the 'low bidder' who most often is working on a 'cost plus' basis simply does not care as the the cost of renting as the more it costs the more he makes.

Also when audited they can prove that all costs were directly attributed to the job in question as there remains no assets.

Heck, here in Montreal area a highway overpass contract was awarded to th 'lowest bidder' (looks good) who did not even have a contractors permit.
He simply used a buddies name (for billing purposes) however thay did not really know what they were doing and the overpass collapsed during construction and killed a motorist.

Oh, and on those big contracts, well usually they are 'by invitation only'!
And funny, there always seems to be major cost overruns, heck why not, there is no real money in cost plus 10%!

Maybe it's different north of the border, but I can assure you most, if not all, bids that specify "lowest responsible bidder", the lowest bidder wins. Again there may be some technicalities in the bid documents that prevent the bid from being excepted, but usually the lowest bidding contractor get the job.

I worked on jobs where the winning bidder won by a pretty large margin between the second place bidder, and realizing they fubar'd their bid, attempted to have their bid thrown out. The state got a really good deal on that job, either that or their bonding company wasn't very happy.

 

[Taylortractornut]

We use a Paddle wheel/ elevating scraper a JD 762 for our hauling at the landfill dad an I run. We also have 20 yard converted dumpster for haulinf dirt to but it requires and excavarot or a loader. With the scraper especially the elevator will pulverize the soil and make it easier to spread plus yo ucan lay down layers from 2 inches to 2 feet. Its easier to compact out roads. we only use the truck when the scraper is down or we need 2 unist hauling building up emergency stock piles. The scraper is only 11 or 12 yards but its self loading and the self spreading is the main reason we use it. Plus you can keep you own haul roads dressed with it to.