New Developments in Highway Construction Machinery

The past three decades have witnessed new types of excavation machinery and technological improvements in existing machinery. Through use of bigger, heavier, and more powerful equipment, excavators of 1962 perform work at a direct job unit cost no higher than their 1930 counterparts. Major developments have come about principally due to improved engines, tires, and alloy steels. A review of the capabilities of present day power shovels, crawler tractors, dump trucks, graders, and road builders is included. In the future this industry will see automation whereby the operation of fleets of earth movers will be handled from remote control centers.