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"Sorry I'm Late"
Doesn't Cut It In Albany Anymore
Ask any motorist... "Construction Ahead" signs inevitably
mean traffic jams, delays, and long waits. Supervisors, daycare
centers, and anxious school children across the country are
all too familiar with the excuse, "Sorry I'm late. I
got stuck at a road construction site." Commuters on
New York's State Route 9 in Albany encountered no such obstacles
while the roadway underwent a series of repairs and renovations
which took nearly a month to complete.
In 1997, Fahs-Ralston Construction was engaged
by the State of New York to upgrade five bridges in the state's
throughway system and to remove existing pedestrian walkways
in order to meet federal requirements for crash deflection.
Fahs-Ralston originally considered using jackhammers to remove
the curbs and walkways. Instead, they hired Concrete Cutting
& Breaking, Inc. - Albany, New York - to saw-cut the 4,800
lineal feet of concrete that had to be removed.
A curb-cutting saw was used to perform a
15-inch deep flush cut into the existing bridge curb bringing
the curb to road level. Then CCB used a modified slab saw
to make 10-inch deep saw cuts from the top down through the
curb. The concrete was released in sections that the General
Contractor could easily remove from the job site without having
to jackhammer them free.
In just 16 days, two CCB operators were
able to remove all of the concrete marked for demolition.
Due to the low vibration, low noise, and low dust levels created
by the diamond tools, the General Contractor did not have
to erect a plywood protection barrier during the cutting operation,
Drivers' progress across the bridge was not impeded, and traffic
did not have to be reduced to one lane. A temporary barricade,
that could be readily moved from cut-site to cut-site, was
used to shield the operator and his equipment.
While this was not an overly complex job,
it aptly demonstrates the safety, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness
of saw cutting as compared to more conventional demolition
methods. Had jackhammers been used to complete this job, the
general contractor would have had to hire a large crew of
workers for the better part of the summer to break and remove
the concrete. Diamond cutting tools in the hands of experienced
operators put the job ahead of schedule by several weeks and
under budget by a considerable margin.
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| Excavation
is made easy with small sections. |
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| Wall
sawing can be performed to remove bridge sections. |
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| Curb
cutting allows for flush cuts to be made. |
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| Sections
are easily removed when cutting is complete. |
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