Issue 3 - Hitachi

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Goodfellow Bros., Inc. tackles the Lahaina Bypass lahaina, located on the northwest coast of Maui, was once a busy whaling port and the capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii. Today, tourism reigns as king, with the town’s population swelling nearly 400 percent during peak seasons. Such an influx of people puts quite a strain on the arterial roadways, and even off season, traffic can snarl. The need for a bypass around Lahaina was identified over 30 years ago, and ever since then residents had been anxiously awaiting the highway to be authorized and the planning hurdles resolved. As most major highways in northern Maui hug the coastline on one side and are hemmed in by buildings or natural barriers on the other side, existing roads cannot easily be widened. So it was decided to build the Bypass further inland, closer to the central volcanic-formed mountains and their water-carved gulches. This ensured plenty of construction space, but meant dealing with less-thanfriendly terrain. In 2008, construction finally got underway. Five phases were established, with Goodfellow Bros., Inc. (GBI) currently tackling the complex Phase 1B-1 — a 2.81-km (1.745-mi.) stretch complete with a 30.5-m (100-ft.) bridge, T-intersection, paved shoulders, traffic signal, and an agricultural-equipmentcrossing tunnel. “We’ve worked in Hawaii for 40 years building roads, bridges, subdivisions, shopping centers, golf courses, and hotels on all the inhabited islands,” says Ray Skelton, Director of Business Operations — Maui, Kauai, and Molokai. “We’re excited to be a part of a long-overdue project, especially as many of us live right in the area.” Inland challenges As the Bypass is being built inland, away from heavily populated areas, one would think blasting would be the best way to remove the extremely hard volcanic basalt rock. But this project did not allow for drilling and blasting in the specifications. Instead, it called for all material to be removed by an alternate means. GBI chose to rely on its <strong>Hitachi</strong> excavators to get the job done. “Our Hawaiian basalt rock is known for being very hard and difficult to extract,” explains Bo McKuin, Project Manager. “We pride ourselves on our ability to rip basalt rock — it is one of our specialties. For this project, we used up to four <strong>Hitachi</strong> excavators equipped with rippers and hammers, along with some dozers and other equipment. We had three ZX450LC-3s already here on Maui, but the biggest excavator in our fleet, the ZX800, we shipped from Washington State, where we also maintain offices.” “Of the 496 957 m 3 (650,000 cu. yd.) of material we had to excavate, about Excavators were the key to removing 152 910 m 3 (200,000 cu. yd.) of basaltic rock. 12
Blasting was not called for in the bid specs. Excavators equipped with rippers and hammers got the job done. Goodfellow Bros., Inc. Family owned since its beginnings in Wenatchee, Washington, in 1921, today the third and fourth generation of Goodfellow brothers specialize in large infrastructure projects. The company has built transportation systems, housing, and recreational facilities. In 1972, the company won a bid for a project for a sewage-treatment plant on Maui. In the decades since, GBI has built both government and private-sector projects on all the major Hawaiian islands. Today the company does business throughout North America and the Pacific, from Virginia and Florida, to Pilau and Guam. It also owns two subsidiary companies: Blasting Technology, Inc. and Pacific Drilling. Although times have changed, the company’s credo has not: Give premium service. Create a quality product. Satisfy the client. 13
Page 1 and 2: A HITACHI CONSTRUCTION AND MINING P
Page 3: InBRIEF Questions from the field: W
Page 6 and 7: Cathy Stein, Steph George, Shaun Ma
Page 8 and 9: NRG Pipelines relies on Hitachi for
Page 10 and 11: “I’ve spent my life in the oil
Page 14: Look at the size of that rock! The

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