Stretching across a heavily traveled section of the state, Wisconsin State Highway 41 shuttles high volume traffic between Milwaukee and Green Bay along the west side of Lake Winnebago. To better accommodate these vehicles, the state widened the route from two to three lanes and added a barrier between the north and southbound lanes. In the Oshkosh/Appleton area, the barrier is built like a fortress, 56″ (1.4m) high, 24″ (0.6m) wide, and filled with 11 pieces of rebar reinforcement.
Choice Construction of Menomonee Falls called on their new 5700-C to tackle the 6 mile (10k) long job, and did they ever! In their first few pours, Choice averaged about 800 feet (240m) per day, and as they perfected their mix, production quickly rose to 1,200 feet (360m) daily. By late fall and with winter weather on the horizon, Choice finished the phase with production reaching 1,600 feet (480m) per day.
Chris Kapla, a long-time Power Curber operator, was thrilled with the 5700-C. “Compared to other machines I’ve run, the 5700-C is smoother and has better speed control. I like the machine’s simplicity of design, which gives it high productivity. We were able to put 1,300 hours on the machine, even in our short season.”
One of the unique things about the job was the 11 pieces of rebar that were required in the wall. To accommodate Choice’s needs, Power Curbers’ engineers designed a rebar guide at the mold’s front which fed rebar into the mold. The rebar guide uses rollers to maneuver the rebar into bell-shaped ports. “It was built with adjustability in mind so that we can reconfigure it for a different mold to be used next year,” commented Kala.
The Choice Construction crew spent the winter cheering for the Green Bay Packers and getting ready to take on the project’s next section, the North Mainline, this summer.
