Grove telecrawler for environmentally sensitive project

Flooding caused the collapse of a trout stream’s embankment; as an effect, a gas line had been exposed and required replacement.

Wisconsin-based Terra Engineering & Construction was awarded the job. The company had a tight deadline to executive the job and had to cause the least amount of disturbance to the trout stream. Trevor Kauffeld, project manager/estimator at Terra, said the tasks included the installation of sheet pile cofferdams in phases, as the gas line was replaced and relaid through the stream bed.

“We wanted to use a crane that could handle a decent load at a long reach. This way, we could set up in one location and avoid the impact—and time penalty—of relocating the crane to the other side of the stream,” explained Kauffeld.

The suggestion to use a Grove GHC130 came from Milwaukee-based American State Equipment, the local Grove and Manitowoc dealer and rental provider.

The GHC130 has a maximum capacity of 132USt (120t) and maximum reach with a boom length of 41ft 4in – 131ft 11in (12.6m - 40.2m). Even though the crane routinely undertook picks in the 10,000-15,000lbs (4.5t-6.8t) range at radiuses of up to 95ft, Manitowoc said this job still didn’t push the load chart to its limits.

“The boom and capacity were what we were really looking for with this job, but the cabin comfort was a real bonus for the operator. The 20° of tilt it offered made controlling the long-reach operations much easier,” Kauffeld added.

As for the trout stream things have pretty much returned to normal, despite having a crane on its bank for 3.5 weeks.