Have you ever wondered how the roads we travel on every day, including highways, are built? Since the dawn of civilization, humans have sought to make their work easier. They started by using stones for various tasks, then progressed to carving those stones to make various tools and equipment. As civilizations spread to different regions, easy access to the roads they traveled became essential. Throughout history, both in ancient times and later, after the formation of settled civilizations, roads began to be constructed and maintained for travel and trade purposes. Crossing various mountains, hills, and rugged terrains, as well as overcoming obstacles like inland seas and rivers, has always been crucial for human travel. Hence, roads have always been given the necessary importance, and despite being costly, road construction has been the preferred method to facilitate travel.

As technology advanced, manual machines powered by human strength were initially used extensively in road construction. However, after the industrial revolution, machines requiring less human effort and more industrial power began to play a significant role in road construction and continue to do so. Have you ever wondered about the machinery used in road construction? Let's embark on a journey to explore various types of machinery used in road construction and find out which machines are employed.

Finishers

Among all the machines used in road construction, finishers are perhaps the most well-known class of machinery. The primary role of machines called finishers is to lay surfaces of roads and connected areas with asphalt or other materials. They play an essential role by efficiently carrying out the task of laying asphalt or similar materials on roads, bridges, and parking lots where vehicles park. Before compaction with asphalt road rollers, they partially smooth the road surface, allowing road rollers to work efficiently. Thus, finishers have crucial tasks and roles in road construction projects.

Road Rollers

Road rollers are machines used for compacting and leveling asphalt. An uncompacted asphalt and uneven road pose significant risks. To mitigate this risk, it is essential to level roads in accordance with regulations and properly compact asphalt using the correct equipment. Road rollers are primarily designed for this task.

Road rollers also play a significant role in the efficient and safe use of construction sites. Since having a flat and stable working area is essential for road work, rollers are used to flatten construction sites, enhancing both safety and efficiency.

Road rollers are divided into two groups based on their working principles: "Static Rollers" and "Dynamic Rollers." Let's take a closer look at how these principles affect their operation.

Static Rollers

Static rollers primarily play a role in asphalt compaction and have less mobility but apply stronger pressure. Through the significant pressure they apply and the loads they exert on the asphalt, they compact the surface, allowing compaction and leveling work to be carried out effectively.

Dynamic Rollers

Dynamic rollers, like static rollers, exert pressure on the asphalt but have higher mobility, allowing them to be used for compaction and asphalt leveling work. Some types of dynamic rollers with vibration can effectively be used for both asphalt compaction and leveling work.

Dump Trucks

Another class of machinery that plays an essential role in almost every stage of road construction is dump trucks. While excavators are also used, especially for transporting large loads, dump trucks are preferred due to their large load-carrying capacity, mobility, and long reach. Moreover, they are preferred over excavators for transporting loads on highways due to their ease of use.

During road construction, various materials such as sand, gravel, rubble, and fill are stacked in the beds of dump trucks and transported from construction sites to other areas or vice versa.

The classification of dump trucks within itself has not yet been resolved. Some sources divide them into articulated and non-articulated dump trucks based on their articulation features, while others do not prefer such classification. Since the articulation of a dump truck does not have much to do with the load it carries, we do not currently see the need for such classification.

Asphalt Scrapers

Finally, let's talk about asphalt scrapers, our last main class of machinery... Although they may not be visible at every stage of road construction, they play a crucial role in removing existing asphalt before the pouring of new asphalt or before renewing existing asphalt. It is a well-known fact that removing damaged, spilled, or deformed asphalt before renewing roads is essential.

Beyond these main classes of machinery we've explained so far, there are also auxiliary machines used in road construction, along with their equipment. Let's briefly explain some of them:

Tunnel Boring Machines: If roads need to be built underground or through mountains, tunnel boring machines excavate tunnels and facilitate access to construction sites for the machinery to be used in road construction.

Low Chassis Semi-Trailers: Legal loads that cannot be transported by dump trucks or excavators are transported using low chassis semi-trailers. These machines are auxiliary and substitute equipment that assist and complement trucks and excavators.

Cultivators: Cultivators, commonly seen in industrial agriculture, also play an auxiliary role in road construction. They are primarily used for soil turning and tilling during ground preparation. A cultivator consists of a foot and blade and is attached to the back of a tractor or suitable truck to operate.

As mentioned at the beginning of the article, the concept of roads has always been essential for human life, even before civilization. Accessing destinations, transporting goods and animals, and food transportation have always been essential for the concept of 'road,' both before and after the development of technology. In times when technology did not advance, human efforts were used as much as possible. With the Industrial Revolution and beyond, human power gave way to machine power, allowing humanity to build much longer roads with much less effort. In this article, we've tried to explain and describe the machinery used in road construction that has evolved over time and is still evolving.

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