Working over roads.

[treeman82]

When you guys do tree work over a road what is your crew size and what does each member do?

I am going to give a price for a big elm tree tomorow. The thing has several leaders and one BIG one goes out over the road. Busy road (power lines are across the street) I can't park the truck / chipper in the driveway cause its UPHILL. I was thinking 6 guys for the job, am I wrong?

1- in the tree
2- guys directing traffic
3- guys on ground handling brush / wood.

 

[treeclimber165]

Can you park on the street, or will you be blocking a lane if you do? If there is street parking, it isn't a big deal. Block the road long enough to drop the lead and get it swung over behind the chipper.

Is this a two or four lane road? Either way, I'd try to time it to the least busy time of day to drop the lead. If you cannot drop it because of the power lines, call the power company. Let them schedule a crew to come clear it of the wires and reschedule for after they have done their job. If you only need to jump it off and clear the road, that part should not take that long with a couple flaggers and a couple more to move the limb.

 

[treeman82]

Brian, there is no parking area on the road, so I gotta block off like half a lane just to park the truck / chipper. Then to drop the pieces I gotta block of the lanes going both ways (2 lane road) I figure piece the leader out (its about 28" in diameter and branches off into 2) bombing everything onto the road. Let the groundies pick up the small pieces and drag em to the chipper. So Brian, does my crew sound like it works? Or am I missing something? The customer is offering to help control traffic. Wonder what will come of that

 

[treeman82]

I C U Brian.

 

[treeclimber165]

Unless the customer is on your payroll and decked in a safety vest and holding an orange flag, your ins. will NOT cover any harm to him. I'd recommend not using the customer for liability reasons.
See if you have a 'Safety Mart' or something near you where you can get a couple vests and flags if you don't have them. Signs placed a few hundred feet down the road in each direction will help too, and might be required.
I had a big crane removal once and had to block a residential street for about 5 hours. I had to let the police and fire departments know beforehand, just in case a fire truck needed access he would know to take another route. It was not a real busy street, but a local shortcut. A few people got pissed but lived even though they had to drive 2 blocks out of their way.

 

[treeclimber165]

Originally posted by treeman82
I C U Brian.

Huh?

 

[Kevin]

You might consider checking with the DOT.
We have a bunch of new regs up here requiring X# of cones, break a way highway vests,radios where flagmen cannot see one another, specialty men working signs, beacons.
The fine could be stiff and that`s if everything goes well!

 

[kf_tree]

is the head ache of the job worth the price? some times its better to pass on a job. it may be wiser to start a little later to avoid the rush hour traffic. have a blower and rakes near by to keep the street clean. one of the most important thing is to keep an eye on the ropes. don't let them lay on the road where they could get caught on a passing car. beware of dead or hanging branch's when you swing them over the road so they don't break up and land on a car. good luck.

 

[treeman82]

Well I took a look at the job tonight with my chipper guy. He says $3,500 to get it down and remove the wood, or $2,500 to just cut it down and stack the wood. For right now it will be that I gotta cut 1 branch off that goes over the road. Guy tells me that we will be fine with me in the tree and 4 people on the ground. Let's hope so. I will try to get some pictures off on Monday when I do the work. I am bettin when I get up there and get most of the branch out that it will turn into a removal job.

 

[geofore]

tree

Did you talk to local police? Sometimes they will direct traffic if it's in a bad spot. Definitely try for a low traffic time of the day. An outfit like Grainger would carry vests and flags. Most paving companies would tell you where they buy vests and cones and flags.Fireman would know that also. Don't bomb the street unless you can put them down flat as you don't want to leave holes in the pavement on a hot day. Smaller pieces leave less damage.

 

[Acer]

Here, the guidance is quite explicit on what you need for roadside work. If you leave less than 7 m, you need some sort of control. Quiet roads with good visibility, give & take or priority, but if there's any danger of bits landing on the road, and the road is more than deadly quiet, I go for portable automatic traffic lights. Lots of drivers over here are complete pigs, and will drive straight through people flagging them down, or even people with stop/go boards. They only respect lights. Also, many sets of lights have an option to set both ends to red, to cut traffic completely for the more hazardous bits of the job. The customer pays, of course!

I hate working anywhere near roads. We are more likely to be killed setting the signs out than at any time when you are in the tree. I quote for every possibility, and a bit more. Usually, some cowboy will undercut me and do the job with no signs or anything else, but so what? Let them get on with it..!