November 11 - North Carolina's Yarbrough Transfer Company is performing a significant project for the North Carolina Granite Corp., moving approximately 70 granite blocks from Mount Airy, NC to Jersey City, NJ.
The blocks weigh approximately 29.4 tonnes each and measure 3.6 m long, 1.8 m wide and 1.8 m tall (pictured below). While the granite blocks are not that bulky, they are very fragile and require delicate handling.
This project is of significance from a national perspective, because the granite blocks will be used to build a monument in memory of Franklin Delano Roosevelt on Roosevelt Island in New York.
Once the granite blocks reach Jersey City, NJ, they are shipped by barge to Roosevelt Island, where the blocks will be used to construct the monument.
"An important part of the project is that the granite is being transported pre-cut and polished," Yarbrough says. "To win the bid on the project, we were required to engineer a method for tying down and securing the granite without scratching or otherwise damaging the beautiful rock."
Yarbrough Transfer accomplished this engineering obstacle by designing and mass-producing a harness to fit on each corner of the blocks. The harness features padded wood and has tie-down hooks at each corner.
An overhead crane was used to load the trailers on site in Mount Ariy, NC. Unloading was accomplished using a barge crane at Weeks Marine Terminal in Jersey City, NJ.
In total, the job will involve 70 loads, one granite block per load.
Yarbrough Transfer used a 6-axle tractor-trailer configuration comprised of 3-axle tractors and 3-axle step decks andRGNs for the 885 km journey. All loads are required to be permitted due to the gross vehicle weight of 48.9 tonnes.
