A concrete road, step by step

text by Michele Regenold, photos by Alison Weidemann

Here's an explanation of what's going on in the Go! banner movie for this issue.

Front-end loader moving aggregate at a concrete plant.
Concrete being mixed and loaded on trucks at a concrete plant. Truck with its headlights on is receiving mixed concrete.
Concrete being delivered to a road construction site (an overlay of an existing pavement) and poured in front of a paver. The truck has a big paddle inside that rotates. The truck's box tilts up to dump the concrete (bottom photo).
Belt placer (left) does primary leveling of concrete in bigger operations. Paver is running behind the belt placer.
Close-up view of a paver doing final forming of concrete.
Paver moving from right to left.
Burlap hanging from the bridge adds brushed texture to the surface. The bridge is for workers to smooth accidents and move across wet pavement.
White metal teeth are tining, a process that adds surface texture. White spray is a curing compound.
Using diamond-tipped blades, joints are sawed in concrete to control cracking.
The final product. The thin concrete overlay has numerous saw cuts so that the smaller slabs can flex without cracking.

Michele Regenold is the editor for Go!. Alison Weidemann is the art director.