Typically when a municipality has a water or sewer pipe to replace, crews will come in with jackhammers and excavators and start ripping up the pavement.

Residents on that block might cringe — knowing the cost is going to be high, the work will take a long time, and a large area of the road will need to be repaved afterward.

Equipment on display this week at CONEXPO-CON/AGG in Las Vegas might change the way municipalities look at doing those repairs.

“We’ve seen a lot of people here so far,” says Andy Campbell, a sales representative for Coneqtec Universal. “It’s been busy and people have been interested in what we’re showing here.”

A majority of the visitors to the company’s booth have been contractors, but Campbell says a few municipal workers have been by as well — specifically to check out the manhole saws. Coneqtec manufactures various attachments for excavators, mini-excavators and backhoes. On display in the company’s outdoor booth is a saw attached to a bucket — the SCB-600 Slot Cutter Bucket.

“Let’s say a contractor needs to replace a pipe. They can saw the asphalt on one side with the slot cutter bucket, then move over the width of the bucket and make a similar cut,” Campbell says. “Without removing the bucket, the contractor can then peel away the portion of asphalt that was cut.”

The tool, according to Campbell, will cut down on the time a contractor or municipality would have spent jackhammering the asphalt and then shoveling it away.

Coneqtec is also showcasing its manhole saw, attached to a CASE Construction skid-steer.

“With our attachments, we’re trying to make the contractor’s jobs easier,” Campbell says.

SHINING LIGHT ON THE SITUATION
If those same municipal crews were working on repairing a manhole during nighttime hours, how would they see what they are doing? Art Aiello, public relations manager for Generac, is hoping those utilities find their way to his company’s booth.

Generac is displaying several pieces of equipment, including portable generators, power washers and portable light towers.

“Work doesn’t just need to be done during the daytime, so we’re giving contractors and municipal utilities a way to see when they need to do work in the night hours,” Aiello says.

The company’s light towers are outfitted with LED lights, which saves on fuel costs as the lights don't require as much fuel as halogen lights would.

“It’s cost efficient and that's what everyone looks at,” Aiello says. “It’s going to be exciting to see where this show brings us.”

AT CONEXPO?
Do you have a representative of your municipality at CONEXPO? If so, what are they checking out? Email us at editor@mswmag.com and let us know, or comment below.