Road Construction Bonus

Just a little bonus - a 1:64 scale steam roller framed by the real-life version in the background.

Road Construction

It's not often you get to see the road in front of your house being repaired. That's why I thought it was the perfect opportunity to get some shots of the process. I have to say, the crew that did this particular job, E.T. Simonds out of Carbondale, performed the task in unison like a well-choreographed ballet. Their equipment was moved in so they could start on a Monday, but it rained for two days and they didn't get started until Wednesday. But, they paved the two lane road that went in front of my house and for about 3 or 4 miles in length in just 3 days! I thought it was pretty amazing.

They started by laying down a good coating of oil on top of the old road's surface. You can see that layer above, along with a truck holding the asphalt mixture.

Here is one of the many trucks that would line up with the asphalt mixture dumping it into some kind of conveyor machine on wheels. The conveyor would place it into the actual vehicle that would spread it on the road in a fairly smooth coat.

Those trucks would really raise their beds high into the sky to make sure all of that sticky, black stuff would come out!

Here you can see the conveyor machine dumping the black substance into the asphalt-spreading machine. It chewed up and spit out this mixture at a pretty fast clip and therefore had to keep being filled.

Here is the process as it moved down the road. In this shot, they are moving from the right to my left.

This is a shot of the machine that put the asphalt down. A couple guys rode on the back of it - I presume to see that it kept going in a straight line.

Another view of the conveyor machine filling up the asphalt hopper.

Once the asphalt was laid down, it looked pretty smooth to my eyes. But....

They had two heavy rollers following along behind, pounding it down even smoother and more compact.

Here is a close-up of one of the rollers. Of the two, you could feel this one coming blocks away because it had "oscillating action."

It said "oscillation" right on the side of it and felt like an earthquake when this thing went by. And trust me, I know what earthquakes feel like!

Both rolling machines were driven by women and as I took pictures, this one asked as she drove by, "Are those pictures going to be on the internet?" She had driven on past before I could answer, "Well.... maybe!" I wonder if she's single?