CEN DEC
4
CONSTRUCTION:
ROAD BUILDING
Tennessee-based highway
contractor, Robert Smith Inc.,
recently laid more than
49 000 of compacted
concrete at a Jack Daniels
distillery site.
THE OFFICIAL NICKNAME
for Chattanooga in the USA is Scenic City – reinforced by the
city’s growing reputation as a haven for all kinds of outdoor activity. It’s surrounded by various
mountains, lying between the Appalachian Mountains and Cumberland Plateau and about
190km to the northwest of Atlanta, Georgia.
After four decades in the asphalt paving business, Robert Smith began dabbling in Roller-
Compacted Concrete (RCC) – a heavy-duty cement mix that can be poured as quickly as
asphalt. The company has perfected the process of laying thousands of metres of RCC in
just a few days for its industrial client base. Such has been its success, that today, more than
90% of its workload comprises RCC work – jobs that the company completes with its Volvo
Construction Equipment (Volvo CE) ABG7820 paver.
That’s the spirit
Robert Smith Inc. was contracted to repave the Jack Daniels distillery site in Lynchburg,
Tennessee, to deal with a major maintenance issue regarding its warehouse access roads.
The asphalt roads were breaking down because of the weight of trucks carrying products to
and from the warehouse. About 92m
2
of concrete was laid every hour by the Volvo ABG7820
paver, which covered over 49 000m
2
of new roads and stockyards. About 13cm of compacted
concrete was placed over 15cm of compacted aggregate base.
Volvo tracked pavers are particularly suitable for paving a wide range of materials from
the wearing course, down to the base courses on diversified paving contracts. The Volvo
ABG7820 paver features a smart power paving mode that supplies high power when needed
and reduces fuel consumption when less power is required. It features an Electronic Paver
Management (EPM) function that combines intuitive and simple operation, with an extensive
range of possibilities for storing and analysing machine data.
RCC has been used for decades but it hasn’t caught on in many parts of the US because
the material has been competing with asphalt and the more traditional poured-in concrete.
RCC is less damaging to the environment, an aspect that was key to Jack Daniels selecting
concrete instead of asphalt.
Rolling out the carpet
At another jobsite in Dalton, north of Chattanooga city, Robert’s crew paved the final sections
of a 1830m
3
industrial lot for a Shaw Carpet facility, with dump trucks dropping more than
6m3 of concrete into the paver’s hopper at a time. The machine’s flexible screed was set to
6.7m wide and its dual-tampers compacted the concrete to 96% density. Workers could walk
on the cement – poured about 14.5cm thick – immediately after it was laid.
A pair of Ingersoll Rand compactors (which have been manufactured by Volvo CE under the
Volvo brand since 2007) brought the concrete to its final density and smoothed off the surface
in two passes. Later, it was treated with a wax-based curing compound.
“I can push a truck straight up a mountain with the Volvo ABG7820 paver, it’s just so
powerful,” says Robert Smith, the owner of the company. “I’ve seen people come and go in
this industry but I couldn’t have done it without our Volvo paver. It has changed our whole
philosophy about the jobs we go after.”
Robert Smith Inc., bought the paver through its local Volvo CE dealership, ASC Construction
Equipment USA, which has an office located in Chattanooga. “What I like about the Volvo
ABG7820 paver is that compared to a conventional paver, it’s extremely solid,” says Robert
Jr., Smith’s son and paver operator. “The machine never strains, ever, which is down to its
unbeaten power,” he concludes enthusiastically.
The concrete is durable and smooth.
Getting into the
spirit…
Making it look easy.
m
2
