A Wirtgen concrete paving train impresses with high productivity in Texas

Continuously reinforced concrete pavement is particularly attractive due to its low maintenance costs. It is cost-effective, extremely durable and requires very little maintenance. In Conroe, Texas, around 50 kilometres from Houston, Larry Young Paving Inc. is constructing a link road using this method and is taking advantage of the particular benefits of the new Wirtgen WPS 62i Placer/Spreader. In perfect weather and springtime temperatures around 26°C, the belt conveyor of the placer/spreader is usually loaded from two mixer trucks. It always takes less than two minutes to complete the loading process. As a result of this, the paving train can achieve an area performance of around 480 m²/h, corresponding to an advance rate of approximately 1 m/min.

As transport vehicles cannot unload concrete directly in front of the paving train when constructing roads with continuously reinforced concrete pavement, it is often placed and spread from the side by a wheel loader or excavator. The paving speed of a Slipform Paver essentially depends on how quickly and evenly the concrete can be placed and spread. Thanks to the use of the WPS 62i, the paving crew from Larry Young Paving Inc. was able to significantly increase the placing and spreading speed. This in turn enabled an increase in the working speed of the SP 62i Slipform Paver. In comparison with previous paving projects, the paving crew was able to increase overall productivity by around 40%. Instead of a mixer trucks, dump trucks can also be used for delivering concrete to the paving train. This enables optimal exploitation of the performance potential of the WPS and maximises productivity. Although a higher paving speed due to the use of the placer/spreader had been factored into calculations during the planning phase, no one had reckoned with such a significant improvement. As a result of this, the construction project was completed in around four weeks –one week less than originally planned.

The use of three optimally coordinated machines brings a number of benefits. In addition to those directly reflected by the paving results, the easier handling is an enormous advantage. Due to the standardised, fleet-wide operating concept, the controls of the machines are almost identical. Training time is reduced to a minimum and machine operators are able to concentrate on what really counts: the paving results.

The paving crew is already used to the operating concept of the Wirtgen SP 62i and feels at home on the machine. The machine has been in use on a number of other paving projects and, in the meantime, has clocked up quite a few operating hours. For instance, around a year ago in the Southern Pointe Community:

The professionals from Larry Young Paving Inc. were positively impressed after their first encounter with the new placer/spreader. ‘We were already familiar with the basic operating and control concept of the WPS from the Paver’, says Ronnie Carter, Assistant Project Manager at Larry Young Paving Inc. The short training period on the machine saves time and money, and paving can begin almost right away. The paving crew was also impressed by the remote control for height adjustment of the WPS strike-off wall. This enables the operator to conveniently adjust the height of the placed concrete, for example from onboard the Paver. This function was, however, not introduced solely for the sake of convenience, it also contributes to perfect paving results. At the same time, it enables the operator to easily monitor and assess the filling level in the compaction compartment and the quantity of concrete placed and spread from onboard the Paver.