November 21 - Ingenieros Civiles Asociados (ICA) is utilising its Terex AC 500-2 all terrain cranes in the construction of an elevated ring road in Mexico City.
Due to tight space considerations in the city the road, which features four lanes as well as some stretches of six-lane carriageway, the prefabricated concrete sections for the road are made about 40 km away from the construction area and erected during the night.
ICA chose to use the Terex AC 500-2 because of its quick travel speed, rapid set up time and excellent lift capacity, even with limited space for heavy lifting at the jobsite, said Ignacio Villasenor Sanchez, the company's equipment director.
Once fully rigged at the jobsite, the cranes are lifting to an average height of about 20 m and carrying out either single or tandem lifts of between 10 and 220 tonnes at a radius of between 10 m and 15 m, explained Bernardo Quintana Kawage, general director of ICA.
After the modular elements have been lifted by the cranes, they are welded and secured, before the next unit arrives and the process is repeated. When the cranes need to move, their counterweights are removed onto low loaders and moved onto the next jobsite.
In total the project consists of about 500 columns, varying in height from 5 m to 25 m. Some of the column sections weigh up to 425 tonnes, while the 36 m - 48 m long and 4 m - 6.5 m wide horizontal sections weigh up to 350 tonnes.
The entire project is expected to be completed by the end of 2013.
ICA specialises in large infrastructure, heavy construction and civil engineering projects, and owns 12 Terex cranes, including several 500-tonne capacity AC 500-2 all terrain cranes.
The Terex AC 500-2 can achieve a maximum working height of 145.8 m with a luffing fly jib and features an improved design on its main boom cross-section, as well as a reinforced sideways superlift system.
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