Florida has remained among the fastest-growing states for years.
A byproduct of its explosive population growth is nearly continuous highway construction, as infrastructure struggles to keep up. This has led to many "spaghetti bowl"-style interchanges — with numerous crisscrossing ramps and exits — throughout the state, such as I-4 and I-275 in Tampa. Locals call it "malfunction junction" due to frequent traffic snarls.
This interchange, which sees an average of 200,000 vehicles per day, had to be completely shut down for an entire weekend to accommodate installation of girders for a new two-lane bridge between southbound I-275 and I-4 east, intended to help ease the area's notorious congestion.
ALL Crane Rental of Florida, a member of the ALL Family of Companies, provided a 900-ton Liebherr LTM 1750-9.1 all-terrain crane to assist V&M Erectors with the girder lifts.
"The most challenging part of this project was time constraints," said Cody Johnson, general manager of ALL Crane Rental of Florida. "The crane needed to be assembled and ready to lift by 8 a.m. Saturday, then finished and out of there by 5 a.m. Monday so workday traffic could resume."
ALL got clearance to start setting up the crane Friday night at 11. A 10-person crew from ALL was involved in prepping and completing the operation.
To say that the team hit the project deadline is an understatement. ALL was actually finished by 3 p.m. Sunday, a full 14 hours before the hard stop time.
So, how did they do it?
For starters, not everyone even has access to a 900-ton AT, but ALL was able to source one close by at its sister Atlanta branch. ALL also maintains its own trucking arm, so delivering the 18 truckloads needed to assemble the crane was handled in-house.
"We're not at the mercy of a third-party trucking company's schedule," said Johnson.
Once getting the go-ahead Friday night at 11, it took approximately seven hours to assemble the Liebherr LTM-1750.
"To assemble the crane, we had to install the superstructure onto the carrier, install the boom and cube, add 449,700 pounds of counterweight, and add 115 feet of luffing jib to go with 90 feet of main boom," said Johnson. "Before work could begin, V&M performed ground prep, then we set a combination of timber and steel crane pads, made sure everything was level and finally moved the crane into position."
The massive AT, piloted by ALL operator Jimmy Giudice, performed a series of dual picks of girders for the new bridge, the longest of which was 142 ft. long (the heaviest, at 227,000 lbs., was 125 ft. long).
"The 125-foot girder was the most challenging," said Johnson. "We had girders coming in from two different locations, including on a ramp behind us. It all depended on whether other exit ramps in the interchange would hinder the lifting location."
ALL not only executed efficiently on lift day, it got the job on its schedule faster than normal, as the order was finalized less than a month prior.
"When it became clear to project stakeholders that the site's parameters dictated using a high-capacity crane, we had the access and the capability to step in quickly," said Johnson.
This efficiency carried over to the job site, resulting in a project completed well under the allotted time.
