There’s no easier way to make thousands of people mad then to screw up traffic for an extended period of time. Road construction can also be extremely dangerous for road crews working throughout the world. It seems like I read a story about a construction worker killed by a motorist every single day, so whatever it takes to lower that number can only be a good thing.
Modular and pre-fabricated construction is growing popularity on the commercial and residential side of the industry, put it may be even more so on the infrastructure end, and for good reason. By completing major portions of the work off-site, the existing conditions are only affected for a minimal amount of time. In the video below, you’ll see a 230 feet long tunnel (70m) be installed under a highway overpass in just 3 days. The existing overpass had to be demolished and re-built in that same time period, as well. That’s not something that can be accomplished with a traditional cast-in-place method. With the tunnel already built, it merely had to be pushed into place.
The tunnel spanned under the A12 highway in the Netherlands, which heads towards Arnhem. Dutch construction company Hejimans performed the job through an impressive thunderstorm, as well, which is shown towards the end of the video. This isn’t the first highway overpass to be removed and replaced in one weekend either, just last year a Chinese construction company removed and replaced a very large overpass in just 43 hours.
Full story: Here's how you get work done! Time-lapse shows how a tunnel was built in just three days | Expres
Remote jobsites with difficult terrain pose some substantial logistical challenges when it comes to getting equipment and materials on site. I’ve seen several different methods used in the past, such as heavy equipment carrying blimps, cargo planes, helicopters, and the Fat Truck, but I recently came across a new method: a cable car.
In November of last year, the 546 foot tall Mina Plaza in Abu Dhabi officially broke the world record for tallest demolition by explosion, supplanting Hudson Department Store in Detroit, Michigan, which held the record for 22 years.
If you need to get some heavy mechanical equipment on the roof of your project, you could use a boring old crane – or you could gas up the bird and make that equipment take literal flight. Alright, so cranes aren’t actually boring, but some times a helicopter makes more logistical sense, either because it reduces total lift time or, in some cases, makes economical sense. Either way, there are some important safety precautions to take in case something goes wrong.
2020 was a stressful year, so let’s decompress a little bit by reviewing some of the most fun demolition videos from the past year. A demolition that broke a 22 year old record highlights the bunch and I also stretch what the definition of “demolition” is a little bit, because I think the video is so cool. Don’t @ me.
Without further ado, here are the top 7 demolition videos from 2020:
2 years ago, crane manufacturer, Sarens, unveiled what is considered to be the world’s largest crane, by both size and lifting capacity. Big Carl, as the huge crane was nicknamed, began work a few months later on the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in England. Now, the jobsite boasts an abundance of crane activity, a true site to behold, and it was captured on aerial footage for you to enjoy.
Back in 1998, the Hudson Department Store in downtown Detroit, Michigan was demolished by explosives. That building stood 410 feet tall across its 29 floors, making it, at the time, the tallest building to ever be taken down by implosion. The dust cloud covered many city blocks and the 20,000 unsuspecting people that came to watch the event. That record was just recently broken by a building over 100 feet taller than it.
Excavators aren’t typically meant to be dropped down to a lower level, but certain circumstances require it sometimes. The machines are obviously extremely heavy, so a large crane and proper rigging is required for it to happen safely. As a construction firm in Hong Kong, China recently found out, though, it’s a little tougher than it seems.
Usually, when a new development is going to go into a spot where a building already exists, that existing building gets blown into smithereens and its remaining rubble hauled away. BUT, there is apparently a different way to handle the situation now, which is by politely asking the building to walk away and to find a new home – well, kind of.
CAT is no stranger to finding extremely creative and expensive ways to show off their construction equipment. In years past, they’ve created a giant Jenga game with 600 pound blocks and the world’s first moving golf course on the backs of their dump trucks. Now, they’re showing off some of their new technology with the release of the biggest PAC-MAN game you’ve ever seen.
On Tuesday morning, February 23, the Syracuse Fire Department responded to a call about a collapsed crane on a construction site near the university. Thankfully, no injuries were reported.