In June 2018, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper signed House Bill 1054 designating $20,420,000 for a new parking garage at UNC-Wilmington in Wilmington, N.C. The contract was awarded to Davis Erecting, Inc. of Greenville, S.C. for the four-story, 250,000 sq. ft. (23 225 sq. m) parking garage, which is scheduled for completion in fall 2020.In order to lift and place 850 pieces of concrete double-tees, tilt wall panels, columns, and architectural forms, Davis Erecting used their Link-Belt 300-ton (272-mt) 348 Series 2 lattice crawler crane.
The 348 Series 2 lifts 60 ft. long, pre-stressed concrete double-tee beams weighing up to 60,000 lbs. (27 215 kg) from four pick points with two 20 ft. (6.09 m) long cables attached to the main block, connected with ten-ton capacity ring clutches.
“I use the fine metering knob pretty much all the time. When I’m bringing the double-tees off the trailer, I’m booming up while I’m cabling up. I’ll have the knob tuned down to a slow motion as it’s centered. When I’m over the center of the load, I know I can start hoisting it up. By centering I mean, as I’m hoisting up, the boom deflection is going to come down, so I’m watching that second block up there and when I get it back up with the number one block. I’m still in the slow metering mode and the double-tee lifts straight up,” said operator Scotty Adams.The heaviest lifts for the job are concrete coping “eyebrow” sections that weigh 64,200 lbs. (29 120 kg) rigged. Those sections are hoisted at a 68 ft. (20 m) radius at a 72-degree boom angle.
“Erection for the structure has been determined to be 18 different lifts or sequences. We are building from the east end, and going west,” explained Superintendent for Davis Erecting, Tom Johnson.
Davis Erecting has a long history with Link-Belt Cranes, particularly their 300-ton lattice crawler cranes. Their newest 348 Series 2 makes the fifth such unit to add to their fleet, which covers a territory covering much of the southeastern United States.
