Highway Construction Equipment (rental, moving, vehicle)

[Roadman229]

I-75 is being widened from Mile Marker 28 South to about 21 in Ohio. They have a strange looking truck(s) that are about the size of a midsized Hertz rental truck except the rear portion is somewhat v tapered. When I have seen them in operation (I think) they are not moving, appear to be hooked by a hose to a water (or tank) truck and they sound like a large blower is running. They have 5-7 looks like cloth tubes about 18"-24" in diameter and 6-8' long extended from the top of the rear portion of the vehicle. Appears to be some dust coming though the cloth. Does anyone know what type of a vehicle this is? Where I can find more info or a picture of one? What do they do? Roadman229

[Crew Chief]

Roadman229, I've seen 'em, too. I've wondered what they were for, but I spend more time worrying that the people in front of me don't get stupid. I can't BELIEVE the number of accidents in that stretch of I-75. I wish people would automatically slow down when they are around construction equipment on the travel portion of the road; a construction truck in the left lane GUARANTEES that you will be coming to a stop soon!

[Roadman229]

Hi Crew Chief - Me too keeping my eyes on the road. Slow down. I had my wife take a picture once when they weren't working. One of them had something on the door, but we couldn't make it out.

[Crew Chief]

Roadman, as goofy as it sounds, I've always wanted to photograph the night paving operations. I'm intrigued by the lighting above the paving machine and I especially want to do something with the steam that rises from the pavement when the weather gets cooler. One of these days...