I was surfing around at Castrol's website, and stumbled upon this article. Mt Hope Rock Products is a HUGE operation here in NJ. I didn't know exactly how big, but I have a better idea after reading this. I know their tandems run on the roads here 24/7. http://www.castrolhdl.com/lube_june99.htm Seems they are trying to cut back on maint. intervals. They gotta have some of the biggest machines in NJ. After the blizzard of 96 here, they were out stacking snow on the highways using loaders that could easily fit a 1 ton dump in the bucket! ~Chuck
About Mt. Hope, Chuck, I drive past the Rockaway exit for it everyday on the way to work. I LOVE their drivers..........don't think a single one knows how to tarp a load. I bet they have claimed more windshields in a year than any of us could count. They are just MASSIVE. Their asphault plant supplies about all of the big state road work. I don't think you can drive on interstate 80 with out passing (or should I say being passed by those speed demons) a Mt. hope tri-axle. One interesting thing is their quarry. I read an article not too long ago, and it was talking about NJ's quarrys. To make it short, in about 25-50 years, most of the major quarrys in NJ will have exhausted all of their supplies and be shut down. Meanwhile.......Mt. Hope has something like another 100 years left in reserve. They could be the only quarry in NJ in the future. I've heard they are actually cutting down their production now so that, when everyone else dries up, they will just be starting. Talk about a complete monolopy! Wish they had stock, cause I would be buying now! Another cool thing about them I heard about was that, when they re-paved rt.80, Mt. hope did all of the dismantling of the old concrete highway. I have never seen it myself, but my friend who use to drive asphault for them says they have a field somewhere that has concrete slabs (like 10 x 30 ft) piled up for as far as the eye can see. They supposely just pulled the old road up in pieces. Don't know what they have planned for all of the old road, but I'm sure there's money involved. As for equipment, I believe the state has them subcontracted out to do most of their plowing on interstate 80. During a snow storm, its common to be stuck behind a row of 8-9 white trucks all bearing the name Mt. Hope. Their loaders are huge. Even guys in tri-axles say they are scared when they go there to get loaded. steveair [Edited by steveair on 12-18-2000 at 03:47 AM]
I know we're getting off topic on this one, but I'm just glad theres traffic on this part of the forum!! WHen the light is on for new messages I get all excited!! They'll crush and process all that old concrete, asphalt and whatever other crap is in there and use it as base coarse. This is becoming a necessity for the exact reason you stated, all the quary's on the east coast are going to be tapped in the next 20-60 years. And the other reason is theres not to much landfill room to claim either. They'll prob make as much money reclaiming and selling the process when they're done then they did pulling it up. The funny thing is, the same person they charged to pull up and haul away, will buy all their own "debris" back in a couple years. Its a huge moneymaker, and not just in the states, I saw it while I was in Guam and its very common here in Europe.
