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their safety vests as required. I know they may
feel a little warmer with them on, but it is notintolerable and it is better to be seen than
being ran over!
Bob and the Subdrain crew started out on April
4th and haven't looked back since they left the
yard. To date they have roughly installed
249,960 feet. Some of the areas they have
covered have been in Tama, Black Hawk, Benton,
Marshall, Lee, Muscatine, Marion, and Polk
counties.
One project of interest is with Des Moines
Asphalt who has the contract to resurface the
main runway at the Des Moines International
airport. Everyone had to go through a security
screening, be finger-printed, and take a half
day safety class to work on the facility. Safety
has been increased since the 9-11 attacks. It’s
sad that even in the middle of Iowa, we have to
take these measures to protect ourselves from
the lunatics of the world.
The project is very labor intensive as the tile
is in 20' lengths and the entire trench backfill
has to be wrapped in fabric. Bob has been
pulling his hair out as most of the plan design
doesn't match what is out there. He has been
doing a lot of field design on the go. I get a
lot of compliments on this crew and Bob's
leadership. This is one of those projects where
his and the crew's talents shine.
I also have to give an "att-a-boy" to
the trucking crew that follows Bob, as I have
been told they show respect to other contractors
on the project and watch out for safety concerns
of others. Way to go guy and gals!
This crew has roughly 545,000' left on the
books. I would like to pick up an additional
200,000 in the next couple of months and they
would have a full season. We have been lucky in
the last few lettings to keep adding around
50,000' each month. Hopefully this trend will
continue and we'll fill the schedule out.
Where do I start with the Sealcoat and
Stabilization crews. This crew shows their
talents as they bounce back and forth doing
stabilization projects and keeping the sealcoat
projects on schedule also. The big project is
Jasper County, as they are fly ash
stabilizing the existing old sealcoat streets in
14 small towns across the county. With the
design help of Mike Olson, the Jasper County
Engineer, this project is going very well.
The crew first moves in and pulverizes and sizes
the existing street. Minor grading changes are
done at this time. The county then hauls in and
spreads a layer of 3/4" road stone on this
surface. (See Pic A) The fly ash is then spread
on top of this with the spreader trucks. The Wirtgen
reclaimer then blends the material with
additional water for compaction. (See Pic B)
Following this is the motorgrader and rollers
for compaction. (See Pics C, D, & E) Mike is
very pleased with the final out come of this
base material. He has told me this crew has come
a long way in working this project. He can't be
any happier with the way they have been handling
the possible dusting problems, cleaning the
project up as they go and taking a true pride
and commitment in the product they are turning
out. I have to say this crew has really stepped
up to the plate and is showing their growing
talents!
Their schedule is full for the season. For this
reason, we have hired 7 new crew members to
assist and are splitting them into 2 crews to
cover the work load. For those of you who have
been here a while, take the time to make sure
the new people understand the equipment they are
on and why they are doing a certain process.
Understanding the entire project or process can
make things a lot easier to do if you know what
you are trying to accomplish. The other very
important issue is safety. Don't assume they
know just because they are on the crew. Train
and explain!
These 2 crews have now moved down to Lake
Thunderhead to do an approximate one month
project of sealcoating the entire roadway
system at the lake. This will involve some fly
ash stabilization, tear up and relay of existing
roads, spreading 4,000 ton of road stone for
leveling, then priming and double sealcoating.
Along with this is the growing number of
driveways to also grade and cover. From there,
they will catch up on sealcoating and Jasper
County again as the culvert and grading work is
completed. After that is the Hamilton County
foamed asphalt stabilization project that should
take around 4 weeks to complete. We will need 70
degree weather through October for as much work
as we have to complete!
For all the crews, continue to work safely and
watch out for your fellow crew member. Keep up
the high degree of quality work that you are all
capable of. We have a lot of work to finish, but
it won't take long if we do it all right the
first time!
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