h a l f b a k e r yVeni, vedi, fish velocipede
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When a situation arises that requires a road to be dug up at short notice, the procedure in most developed countries is similar; a flatbed truck, often towing a compressor, arrives, traffic cones and temporary traffic lights are set up, and workmen attack the roadway to reach whatever buried service
requires their attention.
It works, after a fashion, but it’s not a pleasant employment in poor weather.
For expeditious repairs to buried services, why not lease a Road Repair Tandem Vehicle from BorgCo ? For an almost affordable annual fee, you will get the use of one of our fleet of Tandem road repair vehicles. The first vehicle is a modified 18 –tonne lorry chassis.with a specialized engine and transmission, carrying a large generator, an air compressor, a water pump, and a hydraulic pump. The engine is sized to be able to drive all these auxiliaries simultaneously, and has a radiator sized for stationary operation. The vehicle also carries quantities of tarmac, aggregate, water etc.
The second vehicle is a modified bus chassis, containing a large tool and equipment store, tea room, toilet, and a control room equipped with CCTV etc. as well as supplies of pipe, cable etc. appropriate to the nature of the callout.
On arriving at the location to be worked on, the truck goes on a short distance ahead, and the bus stops five metres short of the work site. He truck then reverses until it “docks with the front of the bus. It then moves forwards ten metres, drawing out a tough metal framed concertina-type enclosure which provides weather protection and has integral lighting.
Temporary traffic lights attached to the front and rear of the vehicles deploy on hydraulic arms, if necessary, to control traffic flow.
The work crew can disembark from a door in the front of the bus directly into the work area, where they are protected from the weather and have ample lighting immediately provided. Power services are immediately available from quick-connect sockets on the rear of the truck, which is “managed” from the control room in the bus.
Both the front of the truck and the rear of the bus are provided with special buffers and shock absorbing systems, as well as reflective panels and numerous flashing lights, in the hope of persuading drivers not to actually drive straight in to the contraption at full speed.
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A bun for thinking of the comfort and safety of the lowly roadworker, when most of us are content merely to curse them. The shelter would allow them to work through all kinds of weather in relative comfort, thus surely increasing their productivity and decreasing the time required for repairs, and thus the concomitant inconvenience, congestion and cursing. |
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A small adaption if I may suggest, which I had considered spinning out as a new idea: |
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Make the roof of each vehicle into a road lane, and the roof of the shelter between them into a bridge. Extend a ramp down to the road surface from the back of the rear bus, and the front of the utility vehicle. Pop-up side guard rails deploy along the entire length, and retractable feet (like those on mobile cranes and scissor-lifts) stabilize the structure and take the weight off the vehicles' wheels and suspension. |
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The whole structure thus forms a temporary hump-back bridge over the roadworks, allowing the lane to remain in service - albeit with a slower throughput and strongly-worded signage advising heavy vehicles to change lanes. |
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Rather than 100% customized vehicles, a simpler proposal may be that both the service modules are designed to be towed as standard heavy goods trailers. Thus any ordinary prime mover (semi-trailer) front-end can be used to tow each module to the site. |
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The service company can upgrade and replace the prime movers as required with standard mass-produced units, and even keep a smaller fleet of prime movers than otherwise: once the service trailers are in place, the prime movers can be re-assigned to other duties. They could even be contracted from any trucking company as required. |
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