Heavy / Highway Construction

Heavy/highway construction encompasses structures that require the movement of large quantities of earth and the building of massive concrete and steel structures. This category covers the building of roadways, transit systems, major highways, bridges, airfields, dams, and anything else that requires major excavations. In addition to excavating sites structures are built that require the movement of large quantities of materials or structural elements such as bridge sections. Formwork has to be constructed in order to place concrete for highway bridges and cranes are used to place sections of bridges.

Heavy/highway construction also presents additional challenges compared to other types of construction in that the structures that are being built are not always in locations that are easy to access, as is the case with the Hoover Dam bypass bridge that is being constructed across the borders of Nevada and Arizona .

The construction of bridges can also be complicated by the introduction of dual-purpose structures such as the one being built in china that will be a bridge but that will also have a Ferris wheel above the bridge structure.

When highways are constructed they require many different types of heavy construction equipment from motor graders to heavy-duty scrapers as well as equipment capable of digging deep trenches.

Some heavy construction projects also have to hold back the elements from engulfing construction sites as is the case where projects are being built right next to rivers where a “bathtub” structure is required to keep the adjacent soil from collapsing and allowing rivers to inundate job sites.

In addition to the heavy construction equipment required to excavate for highways other equipment is used to build highways including pavers, concrete pumps, and curb machines.

For transit systems the tracks have to be prepared and constructed to allow trains to traverse through congested areas, which makes construction processes more difficult as they must take place in confined spaces.

When airfields are being constructed they require massive amounts of excavation and concrete to be placed in order to achieve the required thickness of the runways to accommodate heavy airplanes.

The area of heavy/highway construction requires CEM personnel to be familiar with the equipment and methods of heavy construction as well as the construction management techniques required for managing all types of construction projects.