Road Construction
Created | Updated Mar 13, 2005
Road construction is an important part of modern day life. Weather it is fixing old and battered roads or building new and expansive roads. Building a road is a long and expensive process varies greatly in different parts of the world. My expertise lies in road construction in Minnesota.
Funding:
Hear in Minnesota roads come about from one of 5 methods. Federal, state, county, city or privet.
Federal:
Roads build for the federal government are generally the longest, best funded and largest projects. These roads are generally trunk highways, that connect more than one state, or important feature.
State:
State roads are very similar to federal roads, large funding long distances. though they rarely leave the state, and if they do the construction stops at the state lines. These roads connect big cities within a state, but have little concern for connection with other states.
County:
County roads are generally shorter, lesser funded and smaller roads, county roads are often time gravel or 2 lane, wear there federal and state cousins are often 4 or more lanes. County roads have little funding, though sometimes fixed up buy the state when they are an important part of a state highway, this is farley uncommon.
City:
City roads are the roads that do not leave a city, i.e. main street, the road you might live on. Generally these roads have moderate to low funding, they often times take the longest to complete, having to have bypasses built and detours and the like for local traffic, while state federal and county roads have this issues also, they are relay as incontinent as when applied to city roads.
Privet:
The most uncommon type of road. Private roads are often tooled, or direct routs to factory’s or mines. generally in poor repair and little to know upkeep, they are barging bottom priced roads, as many regulations no longer apply to them as they are privet.
Construction:
The construction process is one of the shortest parts of the road building process. When the planes have been made, and the funding already to go. A contractor is picked, generally with competitive biding, And construction starts.
During the planning process many sites for materials are found and staked out buy survey crews, generally they promise more for a giving gravel pit or the like, then there is to be had. disagreements and fights often occur due to these problems.
The contractor dose there best to make a dime and build the road ahead of schedule and under budget. the actual methods vary from job to job, company to company and location in the world. Well generally a road is placed in layers, with the top layer being the concrete or asphalt or some variety there of.
Materials:
Again materials vary from region to region and have a large influence on the structural characteristics of the road. In southern states such as Florida, seashells can be used for many of the aggregate process on the road, likewise in volcanic rich are like Hawaii lava rock is utilized. Generally the aggregates used are generic in gravely in nature though it depends on the specifications of the job.
In colder regions the materials have to bearable to stand up to the cooling and warming cycle, and the usage during such cycles, and so on.
Whether concrete or asphalt is used is generally economical in nature though it can be based on requirements. asphalt is faster and when it is placed traffic can begin using the road in as little as 3hours. Wear concrete needs to cure for as long as48 depending on the mix and specifications. asphalt is cheaper then concrete though it has a shorter life span.
Equipment:
The equipment used again varies buy region and the like though there is much more standardization in equipment. Trucks dozers graders excavators and the like are all used for various purposes as are scrapers, loaders and many other pieces of equipment. The average sized contractor will have upwards of 200 pieces of equipment, at any given time. though there is much buying and selling and trading of equipment. Vary often a contractor gets a job that requires a vary specific piece of equipment and buys it for the job and sells it again afterward.
A Note:
Many people think that highway/Heavy contractors are very rich. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Well for the owners and upper management the pay is very good, the profit margin is not particularly high. Yes the equipment is very expensive, and has to be updated on a regular basses, this is generally dune through very large loans, and devaluing process for equipment.
This will be updated over time, I am a supervisor for a highway/heavy contractor and being in the filed find my self in a good place for research.
Funding:
Hear in Minnesota roads come about from one of 5 methods. Federal, state, county, city or privet.
Federal:
Roads build for the federal government are generally the longest, best funded and largest projects. These roads are generally trunk highways, that connect more than one state, or important feature.
State:
State roads are very similar to federal roads, large funding long distances. though they rarely leave the state, and if they do the construction stops at the state lines. These roads connect big cities within a state, but have little concern for connection with other states.
County:
County roads are generally shorter, lesser funded and smaller roads, county roads are often time gravel or 2 lane, wear there federal and state cousins are often 4 or more lanes. County roads have little funding, though sometimes fixed up buy the state when they are an important part of a state highway, this is farley uncommon.
City:
City roads are the roads that do not leave a city, i.e. main street, the road you might live on. Generally these roads have moderate to low funding, they often times take the longest to complete, having to have bypasses built and detours and the like for local traffic, while state federal and county roads have this issues also, they are relay as incontinent as when applied to city roads.
Privet:
The most uncommon type of road. Private roads are often tooled, or direct routs to factory’s or mines. generally in poor repair and little to know upkeep, they are barging bottom priced roads, as many regulations no longer apply to them as they are privet.
Construction:
The construction process is one of the shortest parts of the road building process. When the planes have been made, and the funding already to go. A contractor is picked, generally with competitive biding, And construction starts.
During the planning process many sites for materials are found and staked out buy survey crews, generally they promise more for a giving gravel pit or the like, then there is to be had. disagreements and fights often occur due to these problems.
The contractor dose there best to make a dime and build the road ahead of schedule and under budget. the actual methods vary from job to job, company to company and location in the world. Well generally a road is placed in layers, with the top layer being the concrete or asphalt or some variety there of.
Materials:
Again materials vary from region to region and have a large influence on the structural characteristics of the road. In southern states such as Florida, seashells can be used for many of the aggregate process on the road, likewise in volcanic rich are like Hawaii lava rock is utilized. Generally the aggregates used are generic in gravely in nature though it depends on the specifications of the job.
In colder regions the materials have to bearable to stand up to the cooling and warming cycle, and the usage during such cycles, and so on.
Whether concrete or asphalt is used is generally economical in nature though it can be based on requirements. asphalt is faster and when it is placed traffic can begin using the road in as little as 3hours. Wear concrete needs to cure for as long as48 depending on the mix and specifications. asphalt is cheaper then concrete though it has a shorter life span.
Equipment:
The equipment used again varies buy region and the like though there is much more standardization in equipment. Trucks dozers graders excavators and the like are all used for various purposes as are scrapers, loaders and many other pieces of equipment. The average sized contractor will have upwards of 200 pieces of equipment, at any given time. though there is much buying and selling and trading of equipment. Vary often a contractor gets a job that requires a vary specific piece of equipment and buys it for the job and sells it again afterward.
A Note:
Many people think that highway/Heavy contractors are very rich. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Well for the owners and upper management the pay is very good, the profit margin is not particularly high. Yes the equipment is very expensive, and has to be updated on a regular basses, this is generally dune through very large loans, and devaluing process for equipment.
This will be updated over time, I am a supervisor for a highway/heavy contractor and being in the filed find my self in a good place for research.
