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Heavy equipment required for road construction

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In the current scenario or era, where communication and connectivity is the key element for the globe to stay in touch with every corner of the world, roads play a very important role in this purpose. With increasing population, the need for construction of new roads is also increasing day by day. Hence, to meet with the requirement, heavy construction equipment for the construction of roads is also increasing every day.

Technological advancements have given birth to different kinds of machines, tools and engines as well as heavy construction equipment. They all serve different purposes and are used during different needs. Hence, depending on the type of construction that you are catering to, you need to choose the type of heavy construction equipment. Here is a list of all the most important ones that you might require during the construction of the road.

  • Crawler and Excavator:

 

Before the construction task is started, the area needs to be excavated and the load of dump needs to be removed and the loader and excavator help in this task. It can dig the earth and remove the rocks and earth from the area. These usually have a bucket, a boom and a cab. They can have either tracks or wheels, depending on the requirement and surface that it needs to work on.

  • Motor Grader:

 

The first step of road construction is creating a flat surface, suitable for the spreading of asphalt. To create that surface, you need a motor grader. The usual structure of the motor grader has –

  • Two rear axles at the back
  • The cab and engine located above
  • One axle in the front of the vehicle
  • A long blade in between the front and rear axles.

The motor graders are also commonly known as a maintainer.

  • Chip Spreader:

 

Once the surface is prepared, the chip spreader spreads the bitumen or asphalt on the surface. They come in different shapes and sizes. The asphalt that is mixed in a permanent or temporary asphalt plant is spread by the chip spreader.

  • Road Roller:

 

As the chips, bitumen or asphalt is spread on the surface, the road roller presses it down into the place. There are different types of road rollers like –

  • Double drum asphalt rollers
  • Rubber tire rollers
  • A combination of both
  • Pneumatic tired rollers.

As the material that needs to be rolled or compacted in case of a road construction is either of asphalt, gravel, concrete or soil vibratory steel drum rollers or padded drum compactors are used for this task.

These are some of the very basics of the heavy construction equipment that are required for the construction of roads. The type of road that needs to be constructed, the type of surface, the area and the engineering plan would decide the types of equipment or machinery that would be required. Along with the heavy equipment, there is always the requirement of various tools, drills and mixing machines, without which the construction of the roads would never be possible.

 

Road construction – Utility of compact rollers can give it altogether new shape

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Smooth roads are generally the bi-product of good rollers and other raw materials that are needed for constructing roads. We all understand the importance of good roads to the overall development of the country and at the same time how convenient it can make our lives. We all have experienced bumpy rides at some or the other point of time in our lives and the jerks that we get weakens the spine and eventually can cause lot of health related issues. Other than health, it makes the entire journey so very time consuming and uncomfortable that we may think twice to wander again in that zone. Since we all understand the importance of good roads, we should also give equal importance to the equipment and materials that are required to make good roads. Good quality heavy equipment is nothing but the kind of technology you put to construct quality roads.

So when we speak about quality roads, there is heavy equipment whose mention in the journey of the entire construction of roads is of utmost importance and it is none other than a road roller. Now road rollers are of several types and the utility of any types depends mostly on the kind of soil on which it has to work on. So it is not necessary that the one you see on big roads are also to be used on the lane that you have your house on. You may use a different kind of a roller to construct or repair the nearby lane.

For constructing big roads, smooth wheeled rollers are ideally used. Now these smooth wheeled rollers are of two types. The first one is a static smooth wheeled roller and the other is the vibrating smooth wheeled roller. These rollers are basically used in road construction where the soil is rough and it needs to be crushed. Soil like gravel, crushed rock, asphalt etc. need smooth wheeled rollers. Being rough, these soil do not require great pressure for compaction and the rollers are needed to give a finishing touch to the outer surface of the road. The most important component in the smooth wheeled roller is the drum that is attached to the front of the machine. The performance of the smooth wheeled roller depends upon the load per cm width which gets transferred to the soil and also the diameter of the drum.

For improving the performance of the roller, one can simply increase it weight by changing the drum from a lighter to a heavier one. Many operators do not change the drum to increase its weight but they fill in wet sand or water in the existing drum and make it heavier. They ultimately get what they need and therefore do not have to keep on changing the drum in order to make it heavier. While you are rolling the roller on the road, you should be immensely careful with the speed of the machine as it should not be more than 4-6 km per hour or else you will not get the desired result. Keeping it slow sounds to be the best way out.

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