On the Harley-Davidson project D.E. Gemmill’s responsibilities included traffic control, cracksealing, sealcoating, and striping their 258,730-sq.-ft. parking lot and loading dock area. D.E. Gemmill was also responsible for temporary directional signage for employees and visitors while all the parking lot maintenance was being completed.
30th Anniversary
The Harley-Davidson job came in the midst of D.E. Gemmill’s 30th anniversary year. David Gemmill started D.E. Gemmill in 1986 as a pavement marking company, but 30 years later the business had grown and diversified.
Today the contractor employs more than 50 people who provide pavement marking, asphalt maintenance, traffic control, and traffic signage throughout Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and Northern Virginia. They also offer sign installation, decorative pedestrian crossings, interior warehouses, epoxy traffic markings, thermoplastic, and traffic sign retroreflectivity testing. In addition D.E. Gemmill now operates a retail location in York, PA, that offers a broad variety of safety apparel, personal protective equipment, signage, traffic control signs and rentals.
Winning the Bid
Harley-Davidson has been a returning D.E. Gemmill customer since 2011. Over the years the contractor has restriped their parking lot, taped their interior warehouse and factory aisle markings, installed signs and even provided the company with rentals.
After being awarded the project, D.E. Gemmill had several meetings with Harley-Davidson to review project plans, the materials being used, and how to extend the life of their asphalt parking lot. Because Harley-Davidson shuts down production for one week each year for annual summer maintenance, D.E. Gemmill had seven days to complete the work.
The Process
After installing directional signs around the facility, D.E. Gemmill crews used walk-behind blowers, hand brooms and sweeping equipment to remove surface debris and loose dirt to prepare the parking lot for the three phases of asphalt maintenance.
Sealing cracks and joints was the first phase of the project. The primary focus for crack and joint sealing was curb lines where the asphalt pavement meets the concrete curb. This area was inspected during the bid process and D.E. Gemmill used a rubberized sealant to seal approximately 5,650 lineal feet of asphalt joints where the curbing meets the asphalt, including joint sealing around storm water drain inlets. D.E. Gemmill overlapped the concrete curb approximately 1-1½ in. to insure a complete seal of the joint.
Sealcoating followed the crack and joint sealing. D.E. Gemmill coordinated with SealMaster of Allentown, which delivered all the materials needed to complete the job to the Harley-Davidson jobsite. Crews sealcoated 258,730 sq. ft. of asphalt with two coats of refined tar sealer as per the specifications. A third coat of sealer was applied to the main and secondary drive lanes.
D.E. Gemmill’s pavement markings was the final phase of the pavement maintenance project and crews applied a variety of pavement markings. The contractor’s striping crew painted almost 600 single-line parking stalls, 64 motorcycle parking stalls, 25 handicap stalls, 4 bus/RV parking stalls, and 34 truck docking stalls with number stencils in each stall.
Crews also applied stencils including 23 STOP stencils, 27 STOP bars and 5,357 lineal feet of 4-in. crosshatchings. Harley-Davidson also wanted 29 of the 64 motorcycle stalls to be stenciled and painted with the Harley -emblem and “Only” below the emblem.
Ashley Hamme is marketing director for D.E. Gemmill Inc., Red Lion, PA; www.degemmill.com.
In addition to performing the pavement maintenance, D.E. Gemmill provided traffic control to help direct employees and visitors around the asphalt maintenance project. D.E. Gemmill’s sign division made several directional signs to allow employees and any visitors entering the plant to easily identify the asphalt maintenance in progress and direct them to various avenues to access the plant route.
