42 • DECEMBER 2009 • ROADS & BRIDGES www.ROADSBRIDGES.com

A good example comes from Coving-ton County, Ala., where, last March, heavy rains washed out almost 30 miles of dirt roads—and all of them must be rebuilt with imported dirt and aggregates.

The price tag of the project totals $6.9 million, and the Federal Emer-gency Management Agency (FEMA) will contribute 75% of that, or $5.17 million. The rest of the money comes from the state and from county matching funds.

Covington County maintains 670

miles of unpaved roads with nine motor graders—eight of them Volvo G940 units (Circle 900).

“We’ll use our existing fleet of eight motor graders to rebuild the dirt roads that were washed away,” said Darren Capps, county engineer.

In 2004 the county bought eight Volvo 720B graders.

“After a year, we turned them all over and bought nine new Volvo G940 graders, which have since been turned over for new Volvo graders,” Capps said. “We like to run newer equipment, and we like to stay with-in warranty if we can.”

Operating costs confirmed the county’s decision to go with Volvo.

“Depending on the application, we save about 2 gal of fuel per hour with the Volvo graders,” Capps said. “If you add that up over a year, running

eight graders, that’s $37,000.” The eight Volvo G940 motor grad-

ers are real workhorses for Coving-ton County, maintaining 670 miles of unpaved roads. The lion’s share of work for the motor graders consists of pulling ditches on the dirt roads. Mike Hughes, road superintendent for the southern part of the county, said he likes the variable horsepower feature of Volvo motor graders.

“You can get moving better from the start and, as your load increases, you can apply more horsepower,” Hughes said.

A motor grader is traction-limited at low speeds, explained Gary Atkin-son, regional product manager for Road Products, Volvo Construction Equipment.

“You can only take advantage of as much horsepower as you have

A d l f C i

If you think

maintaining county

roads is a snap,

think again.

Covington County summons its trusted motor graders to tackle new challenges

Presenting pathways

BY ELIZABETH LISICANBY ELIZABETH LISICAN

ASSOCIATE EDITORASSOCIATE EDITOR

M O T O R G R A D E R SM O T O R G R A D E R S

weight in the machine,” he said. “That way you reduce tire wear and you don’t waste horsepower that you can’t use efficiently.”

The G940 graders have 11 gears forward and six in reverse. Operator Chris Nelson said he likes the memo-ry gear feature on the Volvo G940.

“If I’m finish-grading something in first- or second-gear forward, then I’ll back up in fifth- or sixth-gear re-verse,” Nelson said. “The grader re-members what gears I’m using, and I don’t have to shift through all of the gears every time.”

Five years ago, the county per-

formed a $4.3 million resurfacing project that helped upgrade the paved roads. The Volvo motor graders clip the shoulders on paved roads. Each year the state of Alabama rates the county’s paved roads on a 100-point scale, with 100 being perfect. In re-cent years, Capps said, he and his team of 56 employees in the road department have succeeded in rais-ing Covington County’s rating from 79 to 93.

“It’s just managing your roads,” said a modest Capps.

—Story by Dawn Buzynski, Two Rivers Marketing, Des Moines, Iowa

Best Case scenario

The Tier III-certified engines of-fered in the Case Construction Equip-ment 800 series motor grader line (Circle 901) deliver a stronger throttle re-sponse at every rpm, improved cold-start capability and reduced noise. In upgrading motor graders to meet Tier III certification standards, Case took the opportunity to enhance other fea-tures on the machines. The engines on the 800 Series motor graders are electronically controlled and fueled through a high-pressure common-rail fuel-injection system. This provides responsive engine control, greater fuel efficiency and a cleaner burn.

The 845 dual-horsepower motor grader maintains the horsepower range required to meet the demands of fine-grading applications, while also providing an increase of 14% for tough conditions. The 865 vari-able-horsepower motor grader, the most popular machine in the Case motor grader lineup, incorporates all of the most recent enhancements to productivity while delivering an in-

creased 205 net hp. The largest Case motor grader,

the 885, takes advantage of the fully electronically controlled Cummins engine, providing increased power while meeting Tier III certification.

Revolutionary design

Caterpillar announces the new, seven-model lineup of M-Series motor graders (Circle 902). The new machines feature a number of con-cepts in motor grader design—most notably a pair of joysticks replacing as many as 15 levers and a steering wheel. Because of the many control inputs required and the precision work performed by motor graders, they are widely regarded as the most difficult of all earthmoving machines to operate. Caterpillar designed the M-Series joystick control system to make the motor grader easier to learn and less fatiguing.

The M-Series design didn’t stop at the operator station. New features

Circle 770