Lancashire County Council (LCC) undertake the maintenance of over 4000 miles of A and B roads running through the county. Large amounts of maintenance, consisting of main arterial routes and country lanes, along with residential streets, is required to be carried out on a regular basis. To this end, the Highways team at the Council run two highly experienced surfacing and repairs teams covering the whole region, complete with a pair of Volvo pavers.
John Banks, Operations Engineer at LCC, explains the reasoning behind the Council’s use of in-house resurfacing operations; “We find that running our own teams gives us massive amounts of flexibility when it comes to undertaking work. We can put both gangs together for larger jobs, just as any sub- contractor can, but we believe we can respond far quicker to emergency works than any external operation could.” The latest in a line of Volvo paving technology to join the LCC fleet is the first P6870D machine to enter service in GB – and follows on from three earlier models ranging back to an ABG6870, delivered in 2012. THE VOICE caught up with the teams at LCC and their new P6870D as it went to work in the seaside town of Lytham St Annes, where they were in the process of resurfacing a residential street. Prior to the paver’s arrival, the team had used the services of their planing sub-contractor to remove the old worn out surface.
Whilst LCC are no strangers to the Volvo paver range, the latest D series has been greatly improved and updated from previous models. From a health and safety point of view, the days
of carrying diesel and AdBlue up to the top of the machine to replenish the tanks is long gone, with Volvo moving all fluid filling points to the safety of ground level. Forward vision has also been improved thanks to the revised bonnet design; totally flat, the operator now has a clear and unobstructed view into the hopper at the front of the machine, even with the hoppers raised. The centralised greasing system has also been relocated up to the top deck of the machine, making it easier to monitor its levels and easier to refill when necessary. Outwardly, the design of the paver is similar to the outgoing model, but the changes made underneath the skin now puts the D series of pavers at the forefront of road building technology. Thanks to a Volvo 6-cylinder diesel engine delivering 175hp, the P6870D meets the latest Stage V emissions regulations, making it ideal for working in residential locations. Access to both the engine and hydraulic systems remains straightforward, thanks to the generous access panels on the machine. The P6870D is the first model to be fitted with Volvo’s new EPM3 management system, which provides ergonomic control of all machine functions for both the driver and all other operators. The information is now shown on an all-new dashboard for the driver, and similar control panels mounted to both ends of the screed. The new system means that any operator in the gang can now take full control of all of the machine’s functions, including the material feed, which leaves the driver to steer the machine in the required direction. The simple and intuitive control system was quickly picked up by the experienced operators at the business end of the machine once it started laying. The EPM3 system also
46 THE VOICE MAGAZINE No39 2021
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58
