Since Hurricane Katrina made landfall in August 2005, the Gulf South region has experienced a significant increase of work in the construction industry. In addition to the regular maintenance of miles of drainage canals pre-Katrina, the industry has been forced to contend with limited labor resources and time constraints of repairing and adding improvements.
Cycle Construction is located in Kenner, Louisiana, just 15 minutes from downtown New Orleans. Cycle was recently awarded a project of installing large culverts under a busy highway to increase the drainage capacity for that area. This included installing temporary roadways and redirecting traffic.
Traffic barriers were specified in order to safely control traffic and protect their workers during installation of these culverts. Cycle ordered 34 pre-cast concrete Jersey Barriers, which were 15 feet long and weighed approximately 6,000 pounds each. These were required to ensure a better flow of traffic while at the same time protecting the lives of the workers throughout the entire project. In order to create a smooth flow of commuter traffic every day, time became an issue. The cumbersome handling of barrier wall is normally a slow and labor-intensive task. Slings and other rigging suggestions were considered, but it was decided that the Kenco Barrier Lift provided the best alternative.
They hadn’t used a Barrier Lift prior to this job. Initially, they didn’t know what to expect as far as production was concerned, but after bringing the crew together and performing a safety briefing and test run, Cycle felt comfortable with their decision. The following day, two trucks arrived with 18 barrier walls. According to project manager Lance Larose, “The operation went safely and quickly. On the first day alone, Cycle Construction found that the device significantly increased daily production along with associated cost savings.
The Barrier Lift is a faster and more efficient method of moving and placing barrier. It’s easy to transport because of its size, yet strong enough to get the job done. It has increased the number of barriers that we can load or unload within an hour.
GRAHAM, INC. of Ligonier, PA used a KL9000 semi-automatic to place ten inch – three hundred pound concrete block along a sidewalk that they had recently poured. Operator Bob Terchik was able to use the device to lift, position, set, and align the block. Owner John Graham originally planned to move the blocks with a sling system, but a request from the town council to complete the sidewalk for an annual local parade and festivities called for a faster and more efficient way to increase production. John was already familiar with the Kenco Barrier Lift capabilities, so he placed a call to Kenco and had his crew up and running in no time.
We use the Kenco Barrier Lift on highway jobs that require placement and/or removal of concrete barriers. The lifter is durable, safe, and efficient. Our trucks are now loaded at a rate of three to four per hour.
With the Barrier Lift, there is less slipping, plus it lifts the taller barriers much more safely.
The Barrier Lift uses a scissor action and urethane pads to grip the barrier wall. It automatically opens when the barrier is set down, eliminating the need for one laborer per lifting cycle.
We save money because with the Barrier Lift , it’s not necessary to have personnel to hook or unhook the lift.
Bridge parapets were identified as possible hazards in Pennsylvania following failures. In July 2009, PENNDOT awarded a project for parapet replacement on the Wysox Bridge in northeastern PA to H.R.I. Inc. H.R.I. began the project in August 2009. The parapets were first saw-cut along the base. Since their current barrier picker wouldn’t open far enough to handle the 12 1/2 inch wide parapets, I contacted Kenco and explained the situation to Tracy Black. Pennsylvania does not have a standard size for parapets, but Kenco was able to provide us with a barrier lifter that has a wide range of grip to handle the parapet, plus other sizes of barrier wall we may encounter in the future. By using the Kenco Barrier Lifter, the parapets were simply lifted out and loaded onto the truck for removal, with no problems.
It has been a easy and pleasant experience doing business with Kenco. Tracy Black was very helpful in leading us to choose the right piece of equipment for our needs. Workers at O’Shea Lumber Company are loading highway barriers of different sizes and weights (mostly in the 7000 pound range). Since we started using the Kenco Barrier Lift, the loading time of the barrier wall has been cut by more than half, and workers feel much safer when performing this operation. Since this is an operation we don’t do all the time, we use a fork lift to move the barriers. With the Barrier Lift attached, the whole process is much easier.
We saw the Barrier Lift advertised in a magazine and decided to try it out. It’s much faster and safer than our old method of using lifting hooks.
The Greater Lebanon Refuse Authority (GLRA) is a Lebanon County Authority (Pennsylvania) responsible for the proper management and disposal of Lebanon County’s solid waste and recyclable materials. The GLRA utilizes a series of 14 man-made ponds to treat landfill leachate prior to discharging to a creek that runs through the landfill. Leachate is the water collected from within the landfill that when collected, and requires treatment or pollution reduction prior to discharging it to a stream. Many of these treatment ponds are separated only by a weir structure that controls the water depth and flow from one pond to the next. These ponds have been in-place since the 1970’s and the original weir structures were no longer functional.
The GLRA received a permit by the PA Department of Environmental Protection to replace the existing aluminum weirs with concrete block. The 6’ long, 1,600 lb. blocks needed to be placed on the floor of a pond to complete the 125’ long weir. Using the Kenco 24″ block lifter on an excavator, we were able to place the blocks in a safe and efficient manner required for this project. We had to continuously pump the pond “dry” while working in the mud. Utilizing the Kenco block lifter, we were able to level and construct the weir structure in a timely manner as to not jeopardize the safety of our staff and the treatment process.
We use the Barrier Lift daily on all of our barrier jobs. It’s quicker, safer and it works great! In the precast barrier industry when it comes to installing, resetting or removing barrier, the barrier lift can be the most cost effective tool owned by a contracter.
Compared to our previous method of using cables and hooks, the Barrier Lift is definitely time-saving.
The Town of Groton Connecticut has owned your product for several months, and in that time we have really appreciated the ease and safety that our barricades can be moved.
In the past, we used forks on a loader to move the barricades, which resulted in safety issues when some were dropped either through poor placement or when they slid off the forks during travel. Additionally, we found our barricades were being chipped and destroyed every time we tried to move the them due to the forks slamming into them.After we purchased the Barrier Lift, we had no further safety issues or damaged barricades.
Although moving barricades has never been a highlight of our equipment operators day, your tool recently saved the operators a lot of time and trouble.
As usual, on a construction site (or in our case a Public Works complex), material and equipment is always on the move. What is out of the way today is in the middle of things the next day. We had stored some barricades in what was an out of the way place a few months ago. When it came time to move them, a storage trailer had been parked right behind them, which, without your tool, would have made them essentially inaccessible without some special rigging of chains and resulting in almost certain damage to the barriers. By using the Barrier Lift, the equipment operators were able to easily lift them out of tight quarters and complete the job assignment just as if the barriers were sitting in the middle of an empty lot.
Thanks Kenco, for making a great, easy to use, durable product.
A fellow contractor referred me to try out the Barrier Lift. It’s faster, safer, and protects the quality of the barrier.
Eagle West Truck and Crane Inc. has the largest concrete barrier installation fleet in British Columbia. Eagle West started placing concrete barriers in 1990 with one truck and pup unit equipped with an articulating crane. Today we have 8 barrier installation trucks with cranes and 7 Super B freight trucks to help deliver the product to the job sites. Thanks to the Kenco KL9000 barrier lifter, handling of the product during installation has greatly improved our efficiency and reduced the damage and scarring caused by other types of clamps. Our operators like the simplicity of the Kenco lifter and that they can pick up a variety of sizes of product without having to make any adjustments to the clamp. Tell your engineers to keep up the good work.
Hoy’s Construction of Waynesburg, PA was tasked with setting up 12’ concrete barricade walls to separate a newly constructed walkway that ran parallel to a vehicular driveway. Back at the company yard, boom truck operator Tim Williamson used a remote control to maneuver a Kenco Barrier Lift onto the necessary wall structures. The lifter had also been fitted with alignment legs, which allowed Tim the ability to position the device onto the wall without assistance. Tim loaded the wall onto his truck, transported them to the nearby job site, and then placed the barrier into its desired position. A ground guide assisted Tim with interlocking the nine walls together. The entire process to set 108 feet of concrete barrier took less than 3 hours.