Skip to main content

VIDEO: Concrete paving - you’ve come a long way, baby!

It’s 1948. The grand scheme of creating an Interstate Highway system in the US is still barely a twinkle in President Dwight Eisenhower’s military eye. Highway construction improved greatly in the late 1950s and early 1960s as the American contractors became more mechanized and therefore efficient at laying roads faster and of better quality. But how did they build a road back then in 1948? Thanks to Encyclopaedia Britannica Films, we have a movie of just how a concrete highway was created. The constr
July 14, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
It’s 1948. The grand scheme of creating an Interstate Highway system in the US is still barely a twinkle in President Dwight Eisenhower’s military eye. Highway construction improved greatly in the late 1950s and early 1960s as the American contractors became more mechanized and therefore efficient at laying roads faster and of better quality.

But how did they build a road back then in 1948?

Thanks to Encyclopaedia Britannica Films, we have a movie of just how a concrete highway was created. The construction site looked more like a chain gang from a nearby prison that a professionally done infrastructure project.

Viewers just might be able to feel the sun’s heat as workers toil into the long day.

If this video piqued your curiosity about road building projects back then, %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 oLinkExternal click here Visit youtube Page false https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neaoGclvips false false%> to see a 1951 film from the Bethlehem Steel Company. Things have apparently moved on since 1948 and steel is making inroads. At least this film is in colour.

Related Content

  • Premiere for SBM’s REMAX 1112 MAXI mineral processor
    February 13, 2013
    Austrian company SBM Mineral Processing, a member of the MFL Group, is showing for the first time its new mobile mineral processing plant. Expanding its REMAX series with the 41tonne mobile track-mounted REMAX 1112 MAXI plant, it is said to offer a completely redesigned material flow making material jamming “a thing of the past.” The company says the discharge conveyor belt below the screen can be optionally fixed or swivelled by 180° increasing stockpile capacity five-fold and considerably improving logist
  • Lintec showcases redesigned CSD 1500 plant at bauma
    February 12, 2013
    Especially redesigned to allow hot and cold recycling, Lintec will be showcasing its new CSD 1500 asphalt mixing plant at bauma. With a capacity of 120 tonnes/hour, the new CSD 1500 enables the integration of a hot storage silo with a 50tonne capacity. Similar to all Lintec’s CSD line plants, the aggregates enter the screen drum through the front wall.
  • On-highway regulations point to Scania off-highway emissions solution
    January 6, 2017
    Scania will be showing both Euro 6 engines for its on-highway truck range and Stage IIB/Tier 4 Final powerplants for off-highway use. The company will use both exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) and selective catalytic reduction (SCR) to meet the coming regulations, as with its current Stage IIIB solution. This means the fitting of a diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC) but no requirement for a DPF. Scania engines are currently in use in Terex and Doosan articulated haulers, along with a number of Terex crushing ma
  • On-highway regulations point to Scania off-highway emissions solution
    February 7, 2013
    Scania will be showing both Euro 6 engines for its on-highway truck range and Stage IIB/Tier 4 Final powerplants for off-highway use. The company will use both exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) and selective catalytic reduction (SCR) to meet the coming regulations, as with its current Stage IIIB solution. This means the fitting of a diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC) but no requirement for a DPF. Scania engines are currently in use in Terex and Doosan articulated haulers, along with a number of Terex crushing ma