On the road again

8 September 2015


In a second example of infrastructure demand in the US South, Northwest Express Roadbuilders chose cranes from Kobelco Cranes North America to build new toll lanes on I-75 and I-575 in Georgia.

Northwest Express Roadbuilders is a joint venture of Archer Western Contractors of Atlanta (subsidiary of The Walsh Group), Hubbard Construction Company of Winter Park, Florida, and Parsons Transportation Group, headquartered in Pasadena, California, with Archer Western taking the lead in the Project.

Northwest Express was chosen to construct the $840m Northwest Corridor toll lanes project in Georgia, which includes construction of new toll lanes on 30 miles of Interstates I-75 and I-575 in Cherokee and Cobb counties. The project will bring new capacity and more mobility choices for Interstate Highway motorists.

The Northwest corridor project for the Georgia DOT consists of constructing managed reversible toll lanes from the intersection of I-75 and I-285 on the North side of Atlanta: two lanes primarily on the west side of the existing interstate up to the split of I-575 & I-75, where one lane will continue up I-575 and the median, and another lane will continue up I-75. These are managed reversible toll lanes; in the morning the traffic will be traveling southbound and in the evening traveling northbound.

On site, Northwest currently utilises five Kobelco crawler cranes: three CK1100Gs (110USt) and two CK1600Gs (160USt), with a sixth Kobelco CK2750G (275USt) ready to be delivered to the jobsite.

Depending on location and job type, the boom lengths typically average 110-130ft for the CK1100Gs, and 150ft on the CK1600Gs.

The CK1100G has a maximum boom length of 200ft and maximum fixed jib combination of 190ft + 60ft. The CK1600G has a maximum boom length of 250ft and maximum fixed jib combination of 200ft + 100ft, and a maximum luffing jib length of 157ft + 175ft.

The cranes' jobsite performance can be monitored daily in the Northwest Express Roadbuilders office, by using the standard KCROSS Telematics system in each of the cranes.

Also aiding operator efficiency on the job, are features such as large LMI displays with color touchscreens, and dial type line speed controls. Jobsite safety is aided by standard swing limiters and control lever lock outs.

The cranes will be constructing 43 bridges on the jobsite. Initially, the Kobelco Cranes were being used primarily for foundation work and pile driving. As of now they are assisting with the erecting of bends and beam settings, and also will be assisting with the bridge decks.

Some of the precast bridge girders were set initially with the CK1100G and CK1600G dual lifting, as each of the girders weighs around 48,000lbs. The CK2750G will be brought in to help in erecting bridge segments.

Moving forward, Northwest Express has other hydraulic cranes that will be assisting as well: the beams weigh closer to 88,000lbs. These are not all precast concrete girders; there will be some steel girders as well.

Construction is scheduled to be completed in 40 months. Derek Geldhauser, Northwest Express equipment manager, said: "Kobelco cranes are a quality product and their lack of downtime will play an integral role in us completing this project on schedule."