Heavy Equipment Bridges The Gap

Some construction sites that use heavy equipment can be real eye openers if you take the time to look at what is going on and how it affects the community. Often, the construction itself will become a historical item.

Take the Christopher S. Bond Bridge in Kansas City. This bridge, when completed in 2011, will become the first cable-stayed vehicle bridge ever constructed across the Missouri River. Without heavy equipment, that bridge would take another twenty years to complete.

Two barge-mounted heavy cranes were used to lift and position each of the 11-foot-diameter, 85,000-pound steel pipes that line the drill shafts. Once the pipes were in place 48 pieces of 85-foot-long rebar were lifted and positioned inside each pipe. Cranes will also be used to lift each of the 40 cables that will be anchored to the pylon.

Whilst the cranes are busy putting the huge jigsaw puzzle together, bulldozers, graders and loaders are busy preparing the approaches, the on and off ramps along with almost 5 miles of highway that will be reconstructed or rehabilitated.

There are 1100 people working on that project and it has another two years to run – and it is only one of many thousands of projects being worked on around the country right now – with more to come. They will not all be as interesting bridge building – however, if you’re prepared to look a little closer, you will always find something interesting about them.

Heavy equipment could help build roads or bridges without carefully trained operators to control the equipment. You can join the heavy equipment workforce by undertaking a training program that has been accredited by industry – the people who do the hiring the firing. ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools are accredited to deliver training and can help you get your career as a heavy equipment operator off to a flying start.