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

  • Cellular Confinement Systems Get “Tough”
    May 10, 2012
    An Interview with PRS-Med’s VP of Business Development and Marketing Hadas Levin by Chris Kelsey The year 1977 has become a watershed year for polymeric construction materials. Dr. J.P. Giroud coined the terms ‘geotextile’ and ‘geomembrane’ in a key paper at the First International Conference on Geosynthetics; and the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) published a report on its testing of cellular confinement systems (first undertaken in Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1975). The investigations in Mis
  • ZF chooses radial motor technology for its hydrostatic transmission
    January 6, 2017
    ZF has chosen a pair of radial hydraulic motors for use in its compact single-speed hydrostatic transmission, the 2HC85, which has been developed for compact wheeled loaders up to 100kW and 10.5tonnes operating weight. For high-torque start-up, the transmission sends oil to both motors and demands maximum stroke to travel from 0-16kph, before isolating one motor and then using 100% oil flow through the remaining motor to propel the machine to its maximum travel speed of 42kph. ZF said radial motors afford a
  • ZF chooses radial motor technology for its hydrostatic transmission
    April 18, 2013
    ZF has chosen a pair of radial hydraulic motors for use in its compact single-speed hydrostatic transmission, the 2HC85, which has been developed for compact wheeled loaders up to 100kW and 10.5tonnes operating weight. For high-torque start-up, the transmission sends oil to both motors and demands maximum stroke to travel from 0-16kph, before isolating one motor and then using 100% oil flow through the remaining motor to propel the machine to its maximum travel speed of 42kph. ZF said radial motors afford a
  • Hyundai is launching a top of the range 120tonner
    January 6, 2017
    Hyundai is introducing a new top end excavator in the 100tonne-plus sector. The company says this endorses its commitment to large-scale investment in developing new products and new market opportunities. “Building on Hyundai’s experience with the successful 50-80tonne high capacity models, the all-new 120tonne R1200-9 has been conceived with an eye on the expanding worldwide mining and quarrying sector, where the demand for efficient, large-scale mass excavation in minerals extraction and overburden remova