Hilman Rollers are an integral part of the construction process for an elevated expressway designed to relieve traffic congestion between the suburbs and downtown Tampa. The cross town expressway consists of a 6 mile elevated reversible structure built in the median of an existing highway. The design allows traffic to flow into Tampa in the morning and then will be reversed for the evening commute out of the city.
The construction method used is the span-by-span erection method. Hilman Rollers are used inverted under the launching truss in order to advance it from pier to pier. The 75 ton capacity rollers are outfitted with swiveling rocker tops & neoprene preload pads.
Also chosen for this project are specially modified 40 ton capacity Hilman Rollers used to position the individual precast concrete segments. The 40 ton capacity rollers have dual chains, Accu-Roll Guidance and a special sliding top plate with a hydraulic ram mount to accommodate both vertical and lateral adjustments. Each segment weighs 80 tons and the contractor will place 3,000 segments during the life of the project.