What was once considered an engineering marvel when it was completed in 1947, the Maine Turnpike has turned into an accident-ridden, congested roadway. With an accident rate 72 percent higher on the two-lane section of the turnpike than on the three-lane section, widening and modernization was a must. With this accelerating road degradation and increasing safety concerns, Maine voters overwhelmingly supported a 1997 referendum to widen the Turnpike between York and Scarborough. Maine's Turnpike Widening and Modernization Project, which began in 2000, will expand the roadway to three lanes both north and south. Work on this 30-mi. (48 km) section between York and Scarborough will take five years to complete. Shaw Brothers of Gorham, ME, is widening the Maine Turnpike from exit 5 to exit 6. This 7-mi. (11 km) project consists of 0.5-mi. (0.8 km) worth of full-width construction. To expedite excavation of some 330,000 cu. yd. (250,800 cu m), Shaw Brothers utilizes the Stealth quick coupling systems and associated Nye buckets on more than a dozen excavators. Crews are using the Series One Nye systems for its 580 Cat backhoes and its Takeuchi 70. The company's 318 and 320 Cats all have the Series Three, and the Series Five System covers the Hitachi 270 and 400 and Cat 325, 330 and 345. The job requires 16,000 ft. (4,848 m) of concrete barrier to be manipulate and set six times. For this job, Shaw Brothers recently ordered a Kinshofer hydraulic concrete barrier lifter, complete with 360 degree continuous rotation, from National Attachments. The primary carrier for this attachment is the EX400 with a Series Three coupler. This, according to Dan Shaw of Shaw Brothers, allows him to utilize five different machines that he owns. A custom Series Five to Three adapter allows Shaw Brothers to use this hydraulic barrier lifter on a total of 13 different machines that can be interchanged in as little as five minutes. Speed and safety of the Kinshofer automatic barriers lifter, has convinced Shaw not to use anything else. It does not require any ground assistance, it's a one-man, one-machine operation. The lifter unloads barriers from trailers and stockpiles them quickly. Cycle time for a stock piled barrier to its in-place position is less than 60 seconds, reports National Attachments. "We have tried many quick-attach bucket systems in the past and have had poor results," said Shaw. "Due to the increased geometry the pin grabber type losses capacity while increasing weight. Others wear out quickly and loosen. Now we only use the Nye system. We have been using Nye, produced from National Attachments, for more than five years and hope to continue to do so in the future." For more information, contact National Attachments at 800/839-9981 or visit www.nationalattachments.com.This story also appears on Construction Equipment Guide.
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