Innovative Road-Building System ‘Looks Like a Stretch Armstrong Action Figure’

Here’s a video that’s worth several thousand words. It shows just how innovative and technologically advanced a highway maintenance program can be when it actually receives adequate funding to do the job.

“A bridge needs to be built, so time to bust out the cranes, right? Not so fast,” reports Extreme TV. “A Chinese company has built a machine that has a creative way of setting girders into place.” The news outlet describes the device as “a 580-ton, 300-foot-long, 24-foot-wide mega-machine that looks more like a train than a crane and acts a lot like a Stretch Armstrong action figure.”

With more than 11 million views since it was posted April 6, this nifty bit of infrastructure news is receiving a lot of attention. Who knows how much support an innovative bridge-building program would capture in the U.S. if it were fully funded?

Bridge safety and maintenance will be on the agenda at IBTTA’s 2016 Maintenance and Roadway Operations Workshop, May 15-17, 2016 in Newport, RI. It isn’t too late to register and be part of the solution.