ForConstructionPros.com

By: Gini and Dan McKain

For a number of contractors in South Central Texas a major ingredient to success in the hot mix asphalt paving business is to scale their size-appropriate equipment spread to the project at hand. Emblematic of this is the thrust made by Ramming Paving Co., Ltd. On a recent major industrial parking lot in San Antonio, Texas, the contractor's well-trained crew was able to put down a 700-ton project in just under 12 hours - and they did it with only three machines.

"In areas where we are very pressed for working space or because the topography is so irregular that it is difficult to employ the normal method of loading asphalt directly from a truck into a paver, we load with a skid steer loader," says Marty Schneider, vice president of operations for Ramming Paving Co.'s San Antonio Division.

"This is not uncommon in our service area with tight conditions. We have found that it is a system that works well for us in a situation in which speed and repeatability is necessary for us."

The purpose behind this somewhat unusual tactic is to enable smaller equipment, such as Mauldin's 1750-C paver and Ingersoll Rand's DD-24 roller, to work more efficiently in confined locations or on the side-slopes of uneven terrain where long straight pulls would be impractical while trying to cut in vital drainage swales.

Good drainage is critical in this area of San Antonio, because stormwater runoff has been known to rise to several feet high in places. It takes place in a matter of hours after quickly overflowing the nearby river drainage.