Have you ever wondered about what it takes to maintain the city streets in your local area? A lot of different machinery is used to clean and repair infrastructure like roads to keep them safe to drive on. Construction professionals work constantly with various vehicles to perform work on roads and highways.
Cleaning the Streets
Especially in bigger cities, crews are needed to keep the local streets free of trash and other debris. The trash in the roadways can clog storm drains, pollute local water sources, and create obstacles that could cause accidents or injuries. Clean streets are safer to drive on than ones that are cluttered with waste. When there’s a bout of extreme weather that’s caused excess rain and wind, debris may be abundant on the nearby roads and highways. Cleaning professionals can remove trash from the roads using machines like street sweepers Seattle.
Paving the Streets
Another important task for local road crews is to keep streets smooth and freshly paved. When bad weather has caused potholes or time has caused wear on local roads, crews must act swiftly to patch up and repave the surfaces. Construction professionals use elaborate machinery to prepare and apply asphalt to a roadway. Machines are used to heat the tar to bond the asphalt, and other equipment is then used to spread it. Steamrollers are powerful vehicles that smooth the surface of fresh asphalt to make it level to drive on.
Painting the Lines
Lines are drawn on roads to help people stay in the correct lanes and to stay on the right side. If you’ve ever wondered about how those lines came to be, then you’re in for some interesting facts. The paint that’s used on roads is especially durable and consists of a two-part process. A painting trailer sprays the desired color and shape on the road. This trailer is usually pulled behind a vehicle. When the white or yellow paint is applied to the street surface, it then has to receive a coating of reflective powder. This powder helps make the lines visible at night by making them reflect when they’re viewed by headlights. Without these lines on the roads and highways, people would be more likely to have accidents.
Sometimes you don’t notice all the work that goes into the maintenance around your area because you’re busy driving. Many interesting machines are used to keep your street smooth and safe.
