Logan Airport expansion on track
23 February 2012
Four Manitowoc crawler cranes are central to development at the Logan International Airport expansion in Boston, USA.
The lattice boom crawler cranes, which have been leased to the project by Baldwin Crane and Sterling Equipment, are working on lengthening the airport's longest west-to-east runway by building a 600 x 300 foot (182 x 91 metre) pier out into Boston Harbour.
JF White Contracting Co, the general contractor on the project, has employed the cranes, three Manitowoc 999s and a barge-mounted Manitowoc 2250, to assist with all aspects of the operation.
The 999s are helping drive 18 inch (450 mm) square precast piles and set the precast concrete pile caps, and to place precast concrete beams, while the 2250 is doing the bulk of the marine work from an offshore barge.
The airport continues to use the runway at night. Therefore, the cranes move off the pier to a staging area every evening so that the runway can be handed back to the airport. The staging area is more than 700 ft (213 m) from the jobsite, and moving the cranes takes 80 minutes.
To move the cranes from the narrow pier, JF White constructed a rotating platform between the pier and the land to enable the cranes to handle the gap between the two working elevations. The platform rotates 90 degrees so the cranes pull on and off the platform and pier.
The extension of the runway will enable Logan Airport to land larger jets, including Boeing 747s and 777s when other airports are forced to close due to bad weather.
