that went into our the decision to choose the LR 1300.1 SX,” said Tyler Becker, senior field engineer at Traylor Bros.“ The reliability of the crawler cranes is incredibly important because we have a small window before the weather kicks us out. Any malfunctions would cause massive schedule delays. The LR 1300.1 SX works when we need it and it has the versatility and capacity to handle all the lifts we need to perform.”
For the bridge project, steel girders are assembled on one side of the Juneau Creek Canyon and then gradually pushed over the deep canyon with hydraulic presses using a bridge launch technique. With this technology, the massive individual sections can be positioned precisely without the need for complex scaffolding across the chasm.
“ The most challenging lifts for us were the first girders of the bridge,” explained Travis Ludlow, the operator of one of the LR 1300.1 SX crawlers.“ They were very heavy, and we had to rely on a lot of ground people because there were up to 40 mile per hour winds. The crane’ s Gradient Travel Aid was also essential for safely negotiating slopes, which were challenging due to the topographical conditions of the project.”
The Liebherr LR 1300.1 SX crawler crane’ s control system was also used to automatically calculate the
8 June 26, 2026 www. contractorshotline. com