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

  • Palfinger launches 30m truck-mounted platform
    April 19, 2012
    Palfinger Platforms has replaced its TKA series access platform with the P300KS. Mounted on a 7.5 tonne truck chassis, the P300KS has a working height of 30m with a maximum outreach to the side or the back of 20.5m. The cage, which offers 540 degrees of rotation, has a maximum load of 350kg.
  • XGMA looks to increase sales outside China
    January 6, 2017
    The XGMA Machinery Company, based on the tourist island of Xiamen in southern China, is planning to expand its operations worldwide. Founded in 1951, the company produced its first wheeled loader in 1964, and said it was the first Chinese manufacturer to sell more than 10,000 wheeled loaders a year. Today it sells more than 30,000 units/year and has an impressive portfolio of products, which also includes hydraulic crawler excavators; road construction equipment (including compactors, dozers and milling mac
  • XGMA looks to increase sales outside China
    April 18, 2012
    The XGMA Machinery Company, based on the tourist island of Xiamen in southern China, is planning to expand its operations worldwide. Founded in 1951, the company produced its first wheeled loader in 1964, and said it was the first Chinese manufacturer to sell more than 10,000 wheeled loaders a year. Today it sells more than 30,000 units/year and has an impressive portfolio of products, which also includes hydraulic crawler excavators; road construction equipment (including compactors, dozers and milling mac
  • World debut for Ruthmann’s T 720 truck-mounted platform
    January 6, 2017
    The newest addition to Ruthmann’s Height series offers flexible access in awkward situations thanks to its extended telescoping upper boom with moveable jib. Ruthmann’s Steiger T 720 truck-mounted access platform made its world debut at bauma. The model has a working height of up to 72m and maximum lateral reach of 38m. Its design means that operators still have 21.4m reach at their disposal at a working height of 68m and with a 100kg cage load.