Canadian weather makes roadbuilding one of the steadiest businesses on earth. With harsh winters and freeze-thaw cycles causing damage and potholes, our streets and highways are in constant need of repair.
While construction companies have traditionally relied on heavy machinery for roadwork, compact equipment is beginning to make inroads in the industry.
As Canada’s population expands, and cities grow denser, there’s a big need for smaller machines with increased manoeuvrability, versatility in tight spaces, lower operational costs, and the ability to access high-traffic areas where 30-ton excavators, dozers, and graders simply cannot reach.
Compact equipment in roadwork
Mini excavators are ideal for urban road construction sites where digging might be required to reroute electrical or sewage, because they can easily navigate narrow spaces between buildings, utility poles, and other obstructions. Excellent in confined areas, mini excavators are also used on large highway projects for digging small trenches and performing precise excavation work in areas heavy machinery can’t access.
Compact track loaders (CTLs) and skid steers are even more popular in roadbuilding. Much like wheel loaders, they’re often used in big highway projects to haul materials around the job site on pallet forks. However, because both offer a wide range of attachments, they provide much more versatility.
CTLs are perfect when prepping for a job as they don’t leave tread marks, float across the surface, and don’t disrupt compaction before the pavement goes down. They’re excellent in wet or spongy conditions versus a wheeled machine, which could sink, potentially creating unwanted downtime.
Whereas CTLs are a better choice when the worksite is freshly dug up, road builders move materials from point A to point B with skid steers once the job is near completion and everything is mostly paved. Since pavement really eats up tracks, using a CTL at this stage would significantly increase cost of ownership.
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