PA Turnpike/
I-95 Interchange
Project
PKF-Mark III and ECA work
together for a big payoff
By Brian M. Fraley, Fraley Construction Marketing
An RTG RM 20 pile driving rig hammers battered piles
in the shadows of a Pennsylvania Turnpike bridge
abutment on a narrow strip of land between an embankment
and a roadway in October 2016. Upon
driving an H-pile to refusal, the operator deftly executes a 180-
degree turn within a confined space and crawls a short distance
to retrieve the next H-pile. A worker from PKF-Mark III
hooks it up, the rig lures and secures it and then travels back to
the work site. The mechanical process repeats itself over and
over, indicating that serious productivity is afoot.
The RM 20, preceded by the RG 19 T on the PA Turnpike/I-95
Interchange Project, represents the willingness of a forwardthinking
contractor to break with tradition to install bridge
foundations. PKF historically relied on a crane-suspended pile
hammer. Its decision to rent pile driving rigs from Equipment
Corporation of America (ECA) is paying off with increased productivity,
reduced labor, improved safety and cost savings.
60 Q1 2017 www.pilingcanada.ca
/www.pilingcanada.ca
