Athens, Ga., gave us the college-rock boom in the 1980s as home to R.E.M. and The B-52s. These days, it garners much attention due to sports, specifically the football dynasty of the perennial playoff contenders at the University of Georgia.
The growth of the school and the surrounding community has brought a spate of infrastructure improvement projects throughout Athens. Most recently, this includes the replacement of the State Road 10/U.S. 78 bridge over the North Oconee River.
A 600-ton Liebherr LTM 1500-8.1 all-terrain crane from ALL Crane Rental of Georgia, a member of the ALL Family of Companies, is setting steel beams for the project. T.J. Sokolowski, sales manager of ALL, says the work is being done near a commercial and retail district. “Although the interstate is part of this job, we’re close enough to stores that we’ve gotten permission to use some business’ parking lots for things like prepping counterweight,” said Sokolowski.
The Liebherr AT is configured with 155 ft. of main boom and 363,800 lbs. of counterweight. A Y-guy attachment boosts capacity to handle the 103,000-lb. beams. The crane single-picked a total of 10 beams for this phase of construction.
An all-terrain crane was a good fit for this project due to the mid-operation crane relocation that was required. “At approximately the mid-point of the operation, after setting five beams on one side, we needed to move the crane to the opposite side to set the remaining five beams,” said Sokolowski. “We can execute this move much faster with an AT than a crawler.”
It would have taken longer to assemble and tear-down a crawler, plus, a second crane would have been needed to assist with the process. “This large capacity AT has the might and reach to handle the lifts while also saving money for our customer,” said Sokolowski. Liebherr’s on-board LICCON computer also provided a strategic advantage.
ALL first used 3-D lift planning software to plot out the physical orientation of the crane in relation to the lifts. Next, the branch employed LICCON to practice the lifts. LICCON enables the operator to use all in-cab controls as he executes a simulated lift on the LICCON screen.
ALL worked with its customer, E.R. Snell, to set specs for a temporary roadway where the Liebherr AT could set up.
“It necessitated a deep dive into the drawings, site visits, checking measurements and confirming load charts,” said Sokolowski. “E.R. Snell graded a road off the existing highway with compacted dirt and other ground mitigation to accommodate the ground bearing pressure.” He noted that the narrow road extended just outside the footprint of the crane’s outriggers.
The crane was on-site for approximately one week. ALL will return in April 2026 for another phase of the project.
For more information, visit allcrane.com.
This story also appears on Crane Equipment Guide.
Source: www.constructionequipmentguide.com
