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

  • ContiTech Conveyor Belt Group showcases MegaPipes solution
    February 26, 2013
    The ContiTech Conveyor Belt Group’s “innovative and environmentally friendly” conveyor belt solutions include the new MegaPipes. With an external diameter of up to 900mm, ContiTech claims the product doubles the capacities compared to conventional closed-trough belts and enables the transport of crushed ore downstream of the primary crusher or of bulky goods in the industrial sector applications.
  • Putzmeister unveils faster and more efficient concrete pumps and sprayers
    January 6, 2017
    The new Putzmeister BSA 1407 D stationary concrete pump has been completely overhauled for Bauma says the German manufacturer, and the new machine features an easy-to-clean fibre-glass reinforced hood as well as an improved hopper (RS909), operating data clearly displayed on the unit’s patented in-cab Ergonic Graphic Display (EGD), and a sophisticated electronic fault management system. All of the essential operating elements of the new BSA 1407 D are easily accessible, claims Putzmeister, in an effort to m
  • Putzmeister unveils faster and more efficient concrete pumps and sprayers
    February 15, 2013
    The new Putzmeister BSA 1407 D stationary concrete pump has been completely overhauled for Bauma says the German manufacturer, and the new machine features an easy-to-clean fibre-glass reinforced hood as well as an improved hopper (RS909), operating data clearly displayed on the unit’s patented in-cab Ergonic Graphic Display (EGD), and a sophisticated electronic fault management system. All of the essential operating elements of the new BSA 1407 D are easily accessible, claims Putzmeister, in an effort to m
  • Topcon launches new subscription based web services
    August 17, 2012
    Topcon has restructured its GNSS network business and global GNSS services, offering new and informative web resources for users. TopNET is said to offer subscription based, real-time GNSS network RTK and DGNSS subscriptions, with high quality GPS and GLONASS correction data, as well as all future GNSS signals, for many different applications; including surveying, construction, GIS mapping, machine control, and precision agriculture.