Heavy Equipment Traffic Jam
Sounds of engines roaring, cement pouring, equipment digging, dump trucks dumping, banging, clanging, noise fills the air this morning. Our cul de sac is the hub for four driveways, and three of those driveways serve as access for construction projects. Parked in the cul de sac are a carpet cleaning van, two pick up trucks, and a landscaping truck with an equipment trailer.
Coming and going from the driveway next to ours are concrete mixing trucks delivering cement to a huge truck with a giant concrete pumping boom. Nine men are spreading the wet cement over the delicate in floor heat tubing that will serve as a heated floor for a future aircraft hangar.
Gravel trucks deliver aggregate to our driveway where five men spread the material with rakes and the help of a man driving a small loader, dozer machine. At the same time the electric company has a man driving a big back hoe burying the utility lines. Hallelujah! Our utility lines will be buried today! Awesome!! After the gravel is spread, the hot mix pavement will be laid and our driveway will be finished! Meanwhile, our truck and car are also parked in the cul de sac, and will stay there for at least 24 hours until the pavement is cured.
It is amazing to watch the truck drivers work in coordination with one another. As I watch all of this from the second floor window in my studio I think to myself that this is like seeing a noisy ballet performed with heavy equipment. The precision with which this equipment is handled is nothing short of exceptional. These big, dirty, sweaty, hardworking men are the backbone of our society, largely unrecognized by the masses, but are making major contributions to the growth of the economy.
By the end of the day all that will remain to be finished with our new house, other than landscaping, is the exterior paint. Of course there is the new project, the garage/shop, but that is a story for another day.
Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Artist
