Setting Barrier Wall along the Pennsylvania Turnpike

Barrier wall is a common sight along the interstate highways, and the job of temporary placement to reroute traffic is a daily routine. In the spring of 2013, Strongstown B & K Enterprises was tasked with placing over 65,000 feet of barrier wall along the Pennsylvania Turnpike to separate the normal traffic flow around a scheduled resurfacing project.

A Hyundai 107 excavator was operated by Larry Prain to lift and position the 12 foot wall sections. Owen Covey assisted with guiding and interlocking the highway barrier walls into place. A Kenco KL30000NG Barrier Lift was used to handle the concrete. With this lifting attachment, each three ton wall could be grabbed right from the bed of the truck, set into position and then released automatically. It only took about 30 seconds for these two workers to complete the cycle. Each truck carried nine barrier walls which were being unloaded and set into place in less than 10 minutes. Prain said, ‘It makes it easy to set barrier.’ Covey went on to say, ‘The larger pads (on the NG series) really grab onto the wall. It saves us a lot of work and lets us get the job done much faster.’

Even at 30 seconds per cycle, that still calculated to more than 40 hours of work. The task required them to position over 5,400 twelve foot wall sections along eight miles of highway between the Blue Mountain and Carlisle exits.