ForConstructionPros.com

Pavement milling machines, often referred to as cold planers, initially made their mark in pavement rehab and overlay jobs that involved milling up relatively straight miles of street and highway pavement.

But following the market's acceptance of that process, and combined with the rising costs of labor and paving materials, manufacturers of milling machines have developed milling machines that are accessible to contractors of virtually any size. These machines are smaller than their main line milling big brothers but equally adept at providing the pavement milling work that is now much in demand by contractors involved in a variety of pavement repair, pavement rehabilitation, and paving projects.

"These types of mills can be used on parking lots, shoulder repairs, cut outs, utility trenches, bridge deck repairs, and a lot of other jobs where a large mill just won't work," says John Hood, product development and sales manager for paving and milling at BOMAG Americas Inc. "They can be very valuable pieces of equipment, and we are seeing them used increasingly for work traditionally done by several laborers and small equipment."

Here's a sampling of what's available for contractors.

"In-between" machine: Wirtgen America's W150
Marketed as "the largest small milling machine," Wirtgen's W150 fits neatly in the gap between its W100F and W1900, according to Jeff Wiley, Wirtgen senior vice president of sales and marketing.

"This mill is ideal for jobs ranging from trench cuts and parking lot profiling to full-blown milling of pavement where production rates are key," Wiley says. "It's aimed at contractors who are just getting into milling, and it's a great machine for contractors who already run milling machines and are looking for a mill to complement that fleet. The flexibility and economics of this machine do that. It's an in-between machine that fits in a number of different spots and a number of different uses."