De-ice with less granular use

The City of West Des Moines, Iowa, along with Monroe Snow & Ice Control developed a roller mill system salt slurry spreader — the Salt Slurry Generator — with the capability to pre-wet salt rates up to 90 gallons per ton. The city is blending a liquid de-icer product that contains 80 percent salt brine, 10 percent Fusion or GeoMelt and 10 percent calcium chloride. The system is a look into the future: more liquid and reduced granular usage to lessen the overall chloride load on the environment.

Not your ordinary excavator

In mid-November, Komatsu America Corp. introduced the Hybrid PC200LC-8 excavator with green technology into the North American market. The 0.66- to 1.57-cubic-yard excavator has reduced fuel consumption 25 to 40 percent, depending on the application. The 138-horsepower machine uses an innovative hybrid system that works on the principle of swing energy regeneration and energy storage using the Komatsu Ultra Capacitor system.

FHWA tested, highway approved

The MBT-1 from Mobile Barriers are Federal Highway Administration crash tested and accepted the barrier for the nation’s highway system under both NCHRP250 and the new MASH-08 guidelines. It’s 62-feet-wide with one wall section that’s extendable to more than 100 feet with up to three additional wall sections available that are each 20 feet long and includes two bi-directional platforms, a movable rear axle assembly, wall section, and LED DOT lighting and beacons, and can be configured to protect either side of the road.

No errant vehicles here

The new ACZ-350 from Quixote Transportation Safety, Inc. is an innovative, partially reusable crash cushion for work zone protection. The system protects errant vehicles from impacting steel or concrete barrier ends and from vaulting into the work zone. It accommodates impacts up to 4,500 pounds transported and can be installed without roadway anchors and requires no foundation. The system meets NCHRP 350 TL-3 crash cushion performance as a gating, non-redirective traveling at speeds up to 62 mph.

Just for cold planers

Roadtec’s SmoothMill system, an automation system designed solely for cold planers, offers enhanced and improved grade and slope control automation for its RX-500, RX-700, and RX-900 cold planers with the system. The optional system features integrated connections and cabling, two dual control boxes for ground personnel, each capable of controlling both sides of the machine, and also provides the operator (driver) with a separate control box.

A sweet way to melt ice

Sears Ecological Applications Company LLC’s (SEACO) Ice B’Gone contains low molecular weight carbohydrates (LMWCs) so when road salt stops working at temperatures lower than 18 degrees F, the product can be combined with sugars to work at temperatures as low as -30 degrees F to make salt work longer and causes less corrosion. The de-icer is composed of organic-based, non-toxic, agricultural products and has recently received a Design for the Environment (DfE) recognition from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for the entire line of the deicer.

The third aperture is the charm

Tensar International’s TriAx Geogrid is the first geogrid made with a triangular aperture instead of the typical square shape. The aperture dissipates the stress out in three ways in a 360-degree radius as opposed to two ways, allowing it to handle stress better from heavier loads and makes the layers of pavement structure for subgrade and base stiffer. Manufactured from a punched polypropylene sheet, the geogrid is oriented in multiple, equilateral directions.

Loader efficiency, excavator capabilities

Terex Construction’s 50th anniversary TX860B Elite tractor loader backhoe is designed with mechanical controls that give operators the maneuverability and efficiency of working with a wheel loader, while the backhoe end features advanced piloted controls, giving the machine excavator capabilities. The loader backhoe is designed to allow operators to easily switch from SAE to ISO control patterns. The engine is 100-hp Tier 3-compliant engine and powershift transmission for a combination of heavy-duty power and easy operation.

A super sensor

The 3D-MC2 sensor Topcon combines cutting-edge hydraulic control software, the latest in inertial sensor technology and GNSS receivers that provide more than 100 blade position checks per second. The sensor combines a gyro, compass and inertial sensor to measure the X, Y and Z position as well as the roll, pitch, yaw and acceleration of the dozer.