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Challenges

This job was not without challenges. Barnhill Contracting Company had extensive experience with GPS systems in their grading operations, but had never used the Millimeter GPS on a paving project (though crews did use it during a test run on a small site). Asphalt paving is a more precise operation, and requires a different skill set.

“This is definitely a team effort,” says Eakes, 22 hours into the project. “It takes what we know about GPS and combines it with what our operators know about paving, along with the organization of our project managers to get it all together. And, of course, the cooperation of all the subcontractors we have working out here who have had to work difficult hours.”

At this point Eakes had been on site 36 hours with only one meal in two days. And it was the same for many of the workers. “You don’t have time to stand around when it’s you and four other guys running all the GPS equipment. Steve Carlyle from our Southeast Division helped me and he does excellent work. It took a lot of participation from a lot of different people to get this done. Our crews worked in 14- and 18-hour shifts, and Chuck Harris from Benchmark Tool & Supply, our Topcon dealer, and his staff went above and beyond what was expected. He and his staff stayed on the job and ran all the GPS equipment so we could get some rest. They jumped right in and became part of our team,” he says.

The hardest part of the job was setting up the paver and the GPS system, what is called the “sit down” to take off at the beginning. Eakes would do things differently the next time.

“Next time I’d try to use two systems versus four,” Eakes says after the project had been completed. “I would still use four lasers but only two machines and two base stations instead of one like we did on this project. I would definitely move the base a third of the way and set one up on each side. We were up for the challenge. There is always room for improvement on anything.