DVES students get down and dirty

By DVE-News/TV
MILFORD — What is a construction worker’s life like?.

"It is not as easy as you might think," according to students from Delaware Valley Elementary School who visited a construction site on Tuesday.

Writing aboug the experience later, a group of students noted that, "In order to build a bridge, you need cement trucks, saws, cranes (of all sizes), wood, cement, steel, dump trucks, flat beds, and many more things than what you might imagine. All big machinery has to be transported separately, and some vehicles are actually self-buildable. That means that some vehicles are so big that they have to be taken apart to get them to the construction site, and then they are put back together on the job.

"They have to actually build roads so that they can get up to the construction site. They do this by digging through the rock and dirt that is there to start with. You have to have a lot of skill to be able to clear a pathway to get safely to the bridge site to begin to work. They have to handle the temperatures and seasonal changes, and all types of weather to do this.

We learned that if everyone pitches in together you can accomplish great things.

"You may not see it, but teamwork is a great lesson to be learned and you need it in a lot of jobs, such as construction," the students' report continued. "Without teamwork and communication it may take longer, or you might really mess up without working together. Teamwork and communication are a large part of what is needed to complete a large project, and great things, such as this bridge.

One great thing that is being worked on with cooperation is our new highway bridge. At the start, it did not look like they were doing much. Now that they are getting a lot more done on it and it is getting bigger and bigger, truck-by-truck and hand-by-hand –it is becoming more high tech to complete it.

They all work together and they all have to be careful not to drop anything on top of cars. People might not realize that some of the things they have to do are to keep us safe. They need to communicate or the whole thing could be a disaster.

Every day for more than year, actually since the fall of 2013, we have watched trucks and other vehicles and machinery arrive to fix the bridge.

After making the blueprints and all the planning, the first thing we had a chance to see was how they demolished the bridge very carefully. Over these past two years we have all watched them demolish the old bridge with care so that nobody would be hurt or nothing would be damaged. Once the bridge was down they started building, from the bottom up – and improving to the very top.

The demolished bridge was old, rusty, and did not have very good structure. It was built in the 1960’s and might not have held up much longer. We learned that bridges usually last 50 years if they are taken care of and built properly, and if they are not cracking

Once the old bridge was removed, they started fixing one side of the bridge, leaving the other side open so that cars could still cross on the other side of the bridge. We learned that it is actually much easier to close the bridge and do both sides at once. Even though closing one side at a time is double the work, these workers did not close the bridge because it would have caused more traffic backups or detours. We learned that some drivers are patient and cooperative with all the work that needs to go on, and some cannot handle the traffic delays. When you are building a bridge, you cannot hurry up with specific processes or it might not be as safe or last as long. We think, especially after everything we heard and saw today, that more people should try their best to be more understanding about work that is going on for them. Just realize –people are going out of their way to help get everyone to where they need to be and get the project done as quickly and safely as possible.

Have you noticed that the new bridge has much more complex architecture and beauty to it? They put all of their effort into making a perfect bridge for all of us.

When you work on this type of project you have to wear safety equipment, such as a reflective vest, bright colors, a hard hat helmet, and safety googles – and you have to wear boots so that you don’t get hurt.

Going to interview and report about our new bridge was awesome! When we got to the site we were met by two people who know so much about bridge-building. Mr. Jeff Bonaci, PA DOT Construction Manager, and Mr. Karl Wegforth, PA DOT Supervisor met us as soon as we arrived and answered questions that we wondered about. Even before we had our cameras on, we talked about their jobs and about the bridge. They gave us (and were nice enough to let us keep our own safety equipment. This was googles, hardhats, and safety vests. Once we had these on they took us right up onto the construction site.

This whole experience was arranged with Mr. Michael Tuluto, Safety Press Officer for PA DOT, who was also there to help us and answer questions today. We also thank Mr. Ken Thiele for delivering the safety things for us, and all of the workers who were on the site and were so nice to us.

We learned so much from the people working on the bridge. We couldn’t ask for a better experience. It is something we would have never thought we could have done, and something we will always appreciate and remember. We think our careers might be booming for Penn Dot construction projects some day!

Reporting DV's team: Eddie Nieves, Nicholas Williams, Sara Flick, Olivia Coehlo, Elena Cirello, Jazymne Bates, Rylie Schuller