WTHDIJS Video of the Day

H

HardOCP News

[H] News
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
0
Need to get rid of a pesky overpass in a single night? No problem, just round up 116 excavators and start chipping away at the overpass like some kind of giant insect. Watching this in action definitely qualifies this as the "what the hell did I just see" video of the day. :eek:
 
I living in Korea right now, and that is just the way they do it here (and in China); quickly. On the one hand it's good, creating little down-time and commuters aren't disrupted for so long. On the other hand, quality can be an issue; they are good at doing it fast because they get a lot of practice, as the roads don't always last so long.
 
This still seems horribly inefficient, at least from a resource perspective. Wouldnt explosives be better?
 
Wtf, the video jumps from barely anything done to all of it being gone. I want to see it crumble!
 
nysmo said:
This still seems horribly inefficient, at least from a resource perspective. Wouldnt explosives be better?
Click to expand...

Explosives are usually used for just weakening tall structures with a lot of air in them and letting gravity do the work. In this case there's not much to actually collapse but still a large amount of dense rubble to clean up so they'd need the excavators anyway, along with a constant long line of trucks to haul rubble away quickly.

Mind I'm not sure if they really needed *116* excavators, video looks more like company PR demonstration to show off for future construction contracts.
 
Prisoner849 said:
I living in Korea right now, and that is just the way they do it here (and in China); quickly. On the one hand it's good, creating little down-time and commuters aren't disrupted for so long. On the other hand, quality can be an issue; they are good at doing it fast because they get a lot of practice, as the roads don't always last so long.
Click to expand...

Makes sense. Look at how long it takes around the USA (only area that I have experience with) to tear down a road and rebuild it. Areas might have roads closed for months or years. Having 100+ people come in one night and just destroy the entire thing at once is so much faster. But on the flip side I can see where the fast rebuild could give worse quality.
 
nysmo said:
This still seems horribly inefficient, at least from a resource perspective. Wouldnt explosives be better?
Click to expand...

Words out of my mouth. Keep in mind, however, this appears to be China. There is no problem that can't be solved without throwing tons of people at it.
 
spugm1r3 said:
Words out of my mouth. Keep in mind, however, this appears to be China. There is no problem that can't be solved without throwing tons of people at it.
Click to expand...

Well, they are like a fire ant hill. Large numbers to work with. Just don't disturb it or you'll go down.
 
It took my county 2 years of constant construction to rebuild, not expand or create, 1 over pass...

Last 2 years of highschool was a bitch.
 
Exavior said:
Makes sense. Look at how long it takes around the USA (only area that I have experience with) to tear down a road and rebuild it. Areas might have roads closed for months or years. Having 100+ people come in one night and just destroy the entire thing at once is so much faster. But on the flip side I can see where the fast rebuild could give worse quality.
Click to expand...

If there's space to pre-fab components there are ways of quickly replacing a structure without compromising quality.
For example here we replaced a railway embankment under a major line with a bridge, with just 48 hours of disruption, not as impressive as 24hrs, but it has a standard 120 year design life.
 
See, that's efficiency in action. In the US if some project like that came along it would literally take at least 8 months to get it done because of all the under-the-table construction bullshit that goes on. Hell, here in Las Vegas there are some construction projects for the city itself, like replacing some water pipes in a single section of road (no more than about 150 feet or so in some areas of downtown) and I swear they've been working on the same project for 3 freakin' years now and it's still not done.

Stuff can be done much easier and faster, but of course that fucks with the hourly billing for such things and it's always about somebody making crazy bank on such projects, it's never about getting the shit done and over with - not even when it's public roads and facilities that are a necessity.
 
I'm a civil engineer for a local government and I'll bet the planning, design, and permitting moved just as fast as the project. The magnitude of the inefficiencies at every level of government is unfathomable for the average person. I am telling you right now the U.S. infrastructure will continue to crumble, decay, and be left in the dust compared to nearly every other developed country in the world.

It is not even just a question of funding like civil engineering societies will try to suggest. There will never be enough funding no matter how much funding you have because of how much of a mess the government is. We will never be able to keep up with the rate our infrastructure is deteriorating.

The various government agencies have run amok and do not answer to anyone, not even Congress. The Army Corps, EPA, FEMA, State Agencies, etc. are all run so inefficiently that it almost feels like the lack of urgency is done on purpose to prevent progress.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top