Paving at Night

"It's a constant effort to be safe," says Scott. "That's where the new lighting system is so important to our crew. Not only does it take two men only 15 minutes to set up for the night, the lighting is immeasurably bright. The lights don't shine in anyone's eyes or into oncoming traffic, yet give us the ability to see what is happening out there on the I-81 project, between Verona and Rte 250 in Staunton. That project is 10,000 tons of surface mix, 3.7 miles long of two, 12-foot-wide southbound lanes. It is being milled first and immediately filled with a layer of 2 inches compacted 12.5 mix. The PF-6170 Volvo paver is used in conjunction with our MC-330 Mobile Transfer Vehicle for a better surface ride. The operator programmed the paver to run 20 feet per minute, so our rollers can keep pace and compact the material correctly."

Branscome operation
Julius Branscome founded Julius Branscome Grading & Excavating in 1962 and then in 1987, started Branscome Paving Co. of Manassas, VA when the company bought a plant and paver (PF-500) to serve their customers better. His son, David, runs the paving company now, and granddaughter, Rachael, works in the office. Third generation, grandson Taz, repairs the equipment, while nephews Brent, Corey, and Jamie, work throughout the company.

Branscome's take on the new Blaw-Knox PF-6110 is that Volvo has put new technology into the main components of a paver and brought it up "a notch." That new technology has helped the company achieve good rideability results. "We are paving on I-66 in Manassas for 24 mainline lane miles, eastbound, along with several ramps, on a mill and overlay maintenance project," Branscome notes. "A, 76-22 polymer modified liquid asphalt mix, 1 ½- to 2-inch compacted layer is placed with the PF-6110 and our MC-30 MTV. The time constraints after milling are to start paving between 10 and 11 p.m. and stop around 3:30 a.m. Everything has to be off the road by 5 a.m. for Washington, DC commuter traffic. Even with that short time period, we are able to put down 1,300 tons a night."

Lee Hy Paving
Lee Hy Paving of Richmond, VA also has three generations of family members currently working in their company. Founding Chairman of the Board, Gordon Penick, Jr. can be found every morning at his headquarters, with sons, Gordon III, CEO, and Joe, president, out in the field, or in the office managing their four plants, (Richmond, Chester, New Kent, and Warsaw, VA), and eight-plus paving crews. Grandson C. R. Langhorn, executive vice-president, works there right along several other grandchildren.

Lee Hy Paving Corp. currently is making use of the latest PF-6110 paver on a major, urban thoroughfare in the Shortpump area of Richmond. Paving 12-foot-wide lanes, sometimes shutting down two lanes at a time for safety reasons, the crew can start setting up at 9:30 p.m. and must be off the road by 5:30 a.m. Broad St. or Rte 250 is a 5,300-ton mill and fill segment of the larger 26,000-ton contract for Henrico County's primary roads maintenance project for VDOT. This overlay section is milled 1 ½ inches deep, and replaced with 1 ½ inches compacted 12.5E mix of 76-22 modified polymer liquid asphalt.

The contractor produced 1,200 to 1,500 tons a night.

For better control of Lee Hy's operations, over 70 GPS transmitters were installed in the contractor's dump trucks, distributor, service and tanker trucks. At the home office, progress of supply and demand is assessed, especially during weather changes or possible equipment malfunction.

Branscome Inc. of Williamsburg, will be one of the first contractors to agree as to their use of the Blaw-Knox/Volvo Road Machinery pavers used through the generations. The Tidewater Division has used Blaw-Knox equipment in their inventory for 35 years.

Currently, a PF-6170 paver is laying an SMA performance grade 70-22 mix type 12.5mm at night on Rte 460, a heavy truck route into the lower Norfolk, Chesapeake area. The road accesses large truck distribution centers for many store chains, plus numerous ports.

The project consisted of removing and replacing raised pavement markers, filling in rumble strips, and 15,000 square yards of edge millings. Three and one-half miles of four travel lanes, and six various length, center and right turn lanes were resurfaced with 11,000 tons of the SMA mix compacted to 1 ¾ inches. Some outside turn lanes and the street connectors used the typical SMA 9.5 mix. The crews worked Sunday through Thursday, starting at 7 p.m. establishing traffic delineation, until 6 a.m., when cars and trucks were back on the paved roads.