Florida has doubled in population every 20 years for the past 80 years, pushing its infrastructure to the max in many parts of the state. To move traffic and commuters with greater ease, the state embarked on a three-phase, $120 million design-build-finance (DBF) project to widen the existing I-95 interstate highway from four lanes to six lanes, including widening and replacing many of its bridges in Brevard and Volusia counties, Fla.
I-95 is a major north/south loop that leads north from Miami and extends up the eastern corridor all the way to Maine. This phase of Florida’s I-95 expansion began in November 2012 and includes a 30-mile stretch that runs from Garden Street in Titusville to S.R. 44. It is scheduled for completion in 2016.
The Lane Construction Corp. is the design-build contractor for the project. Lane hired All Sunshine Crane Rental, a member of the All Family of Cos., for crane service along the span.
“Along that 30-mile stretch there are seven pairs of bridges, and when Lane gets to one of those, that’s when we bring in the cranes,” said Porter Adams, sales associate with All Sunshine Crane Rental in Orlando. “It’s significantly more practical than having them sit onsite.” The cranes are helping set beams and drive the pile foundations.
Currently, a Link-Belt 238 HSL 150-ton lattice boom crawler crane is at work on the 228-ft-long bridge that carries I-95 over Maytown Road, a principal artery. The crawler, configured with 150 ft of boom, works daily, flying concrete forms and performing pile driving. When the timing is right, explained Adams, “we bring in our big hydros,” referring to the company’s No. 1-ranked fleet of hydraulic truck cranes. “The hydros help set the concrete beams, each reinforced with steel and weighing anywhere between 80,000 to 100,000 lb, depending on the span.” A Liebherr LTM 1250-6.1, a 300-ton all-terrain crane with 236 ft of main boom, has been on-site at the Maytown Road overpass, helping to set new structural beams.
But the workhorse on site has been the 150-ton Link-Belt 238.
The cranes are bare rented to Lane, which provides their own operators. Once ALL Sunshine assembles the units on-site, they certify the assembly with a complete inspection. After that, Lane’s safety team inspects the cranes thoroughly.
