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

  • Tata source for steel
    January 6, 2017
    Making its Intermat debut, Scotland-based Tata Steel last year invested €9.56million (£8million) in its specialist steels Clydebridge plant in Glasgow. The move increased the plant’s capacity for producing premium quality high-strength steel plate, essential for lifting and excavating industries, by up to 50%. Tata Steel is more than the just a steel producer according to Carlo Di Terlizzi, brand and marcoms manager for lifting and excavating.
  • Tata source for steel
    April 12, 2012
    Making its Intermat debut, Scotland-based Tata Steel last year invested €9.56million (£8million) in its specialist steels Clydebridge plant in Glasgow. The move increased the plant’s capacity for producing premium quality high-strength steel plate, essential for lifting and excavating industries, by up to 50%. Tata Steel is more than the just a steel producer according to Carlo Di Terlizzi, brand and marcoms manager for lifting and excavating.
  • Polish police patrol with motorcycles for traffic duties
    June 3, 2014
    In the Polish district of Bydgoszcz and Torun, police operations employ motorcycle patrols for traffic duties. Police motorcycles are used as they provide mobility where there is a lot of traffic, as police cars are less able to respond quickly. Motorcycle patrols are used to monitor the traffic on the road and perform general security tasks.
  • Herrenkencht has developed a novel pipeline installation package
    January 6, 2017
    Herrenknecht’s innovative Pipe Express system offers a novel semi-trenchless method of installing pipelines effectively and efficiently. The system can cope with pipe diameters from 800mm-1.5m and is a combination of tunnel boring machine (TBM) technology with a chain trencher. The TBM unit, trencher and buggy run on the surface, along with an operating vehicle and the equipment is modular and said to be easy to transport and set-up on site. Silke Rockenstein is in charge of corporate communications at the