Link-Belt RT is a mountain porter

The 30-acre jobsite in a ravine in the Wasatch Mountains required a crane with a small footprint and excellent reach to place over 280,000 sq ft of heavy PERI forms for reinforced concrete foundation walls.

“I asked for the 110RT specifically since we have used Link-Belt machines in the past in this configuration” said Shaun Boydston, superintendent for Big-D Construction. ”We used the 90USt RTC-8090 Series II on other projects, and we’ve used the 130US RTC-80130 Series II, so we wanted the 110RT on this project, knowing what it could accomplish. The 90USt worked in Montana in winter at about 9,000ft (2,700m) altitude and it did a great job. Here, we are only about 6,800ft (2,000m) high, with hot and windy summers—and snow comes early.”

Construction on the mountain location requires moving a large quantity of materials from a single delivery point on the jobsite. Other tasks include pouring concrete, placing rebar columns for heavier construction, and lifting and placing panels that weigh up to 13,000lb and measure 24–30ft wide and up to 34ft tall.

“We have to ensure we have enough range and capacity to get to where the crews are working. We build our way out, reaching back to the hillside where the formwork is ongoing. We are working at about a 130ft radius with large panels. We basically set the machine inside the footprint of the building. The crane’s boom is fully scoped to 164ft for hours at a time to make sure we give ourselves enough range and capacity,” Boydston explained.

Over 560 panels have been placed on the back foundation wall nearest to the mountain. Forms weighing from 1,500 to 5,900lbs must be placed at a radius up to 127ft. Complete control was needed over the panels as they were placed at the base of each wall to start forming the two-story, 12-unit building. Native grass roofs will finish off the units so as not to appear as typical ‘roof tops’ but as part of the natural landscape.