Hey, there! Log in / Register
City puts in order for big-ass snow blowers for next winter
By adamg on Tue, 06/23/2015 - 2:35pm
Photo via Public Works Department.
The Boston Public Works Department says a Woburn company will build the city two truck-mounted snow blowers that will give us Montreal-strength street-clearing power.
Each of the LaRue D55 blowers can shoot 2,750 tons of snow an hour the length of half a football field, although in practice the blowers, to be mounted on new Volvo loaders, will be paired with large dump trucks, into which snow will be blown for transportation to one of the city's fine snow dumps.
The city will pay $645,000 for the new blowers and loaders to Woodco Machinery, Inc. - the only company to meet the city's specifications.
Neighborhoods:
Topics:
Free tagging:
Ad:
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
Hopefully
this means we'll have a mild winter next year.
If so
If so, Boston can lease them out to whatever other unfortunate city gets snowballed next year.
A snowjob?
I am not one to see "sweetheart deals" or conspiracy at every turn, but how the hell could this be the case unless the City deliberately wrote the spec so as to favor this company? What is so special about Boston's snow removal procedure that no other company could meet the spec? It's a giant snow blower for crying out loud.
Probably had a "made in MA"
Probably had a "made in MA" requirement in the specs.
La Rue
The snowblower (from JA LaRue) is made in Quebec. Not sure what the Woburn company has to do with it other than being a VAR, possibly, or handling the interface to the loader (less likely).
City press release says "The
City press release says "The two L90 Volvo loaders with LaRue D55 blowers"[1].
Woodco is a Volvo Construction Equipment dealer[2]. So, likely they are buying the snowblower and loader and connecting them together.
[1] http://www.cityofboston.gov/news/default.aspx?id=20185
[2] http://www.woodcomachinery.com/
Yeah, likely
It's not like the state pays sales tax. What's the chance that most of the innards were made elsewhere and/or the shop is near the border so most employees live across the state line.
These "made here" clauses sound nice but it's a horrible method of stimulating the economy. It would be better to buy more of the things at a lower cost. The damage done to the local economy due to snow impeding normal business is far greater then any benefit to a few people who are involved in the construction and sale of these.
But what's good for a city as a whole isn't as good for campaign contributions.
It would be better to buy
It would be even better to buy more of these things that are well built and more reliable, even if we have to incur a higher cost to do so. Low bid does not automatically give you highest quality, regardless of how well you think your specification is written.
True
But why spend more for higher quality from another state/country when you can spend more for lower quality right here at home.
It's a speciaty item
Could be that this company is the only source in the state. I know I never saw these down at Home Depot.
Same as used in Montreal
Montreal does use the same manufacturer. They are impressive machines.
http://www.jalarue.com
B..A..D in Essex County
They sell them at Big Ass Depot. in Essex County MA
Let's take off our tinfoil hats for a moment
How many of these are sold every year? A couple dozen? A few in Canada, a few to Europe (which probably has their own, and a few to places like Truckee and the NPS (I was once "rescued" by one of these in the Rockies after hiking out in a blizzard; it damn near ate a car that was invisible in the three feet of snow that had fallen overnight). It's not like there are fifteen firms which are all competing. If this works in Montreal, and from the videos we've seen, damn, then we should get a couple. Because the alternative is having none at all.
Oshkosh H-Series
Looks like a way heftier machine.
http://www.oshkoshairport.com/en/SnowTrucks/HSerie...
EDIT:
I guess the road model is a much better choice for the city.
http://www.oshkoshairport.com/en/SnowTrucks/HSerie...
I'm one to always see those deals in Boston
My thought this time was "this might actually be a rare time that there's not some backroom dealing behind it."
The city probably put it out
The city probably put it out to bid spec'd for a LaRue D55 attached to a Volvo loader (I assume similar to existing loaders in their fleet) and there was only one bidder who bid to actually deliver the fully assembled product.
Hope
I hope we don't have a Winter like the last one. Uggggghhhhhhhh!
I could have sworn a bunch of
I could have sworn a bunch of people were saying that Boston doesnt have these because theyd never work in Boston and if they did work we'd have them.
Funny how that works.
Great, now Boston is only 1 year behind Somerville
n/t
Front end loaders
The City has front end loaders, bobcats and dump trucks. The City's contractors had the same equipment. Hardly any snow was actually removed from my neighborhood. They just plowed and piled the snow into huge mounds while Boylston and the Seaport looked liked Marco Island in July.
Not really equivalent
If this is what I think it is, the way it's mean to be used is with a dump truck following. The giant snowblower chews it up and spits it out into the truck bed. You can do the same thing with front end loaders, but it's a lot slower.
Lets Buy 2 of these every year!
This is a GREAT move by Mayor Walsh! Excellent we will finally have some more equipment to keep us safe. I hope 1 mechanic is designated to keep it in good working order. This stuff should last 40 years if serviced correctly. Thanks Marty
Great but
Great, bout time, Next, FiOS?
The beast at work
https://youtu.be/tHUzTtt7FCk
Meanwhile at the MBTA
Would anyone be shocked if the MBTA did an audit of the thousands of shovels bought last winter and found out more than half are missing?
I'd be shocked...
...if YOU could produce anything indicating that they might be, other than your own fevered fault-seeking imagination.
After he left politics in Melonville
Did Johnny LaRue get some angle on the Canadian snowplow market?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66hLNY-D13A
Does purchase make Marty Walsh a "global warming" denier?
n/t
Where's your source material
Where's your source material for the claim that global climate change predicts drier winters? Or did you just come here to spread nonsense and stir shit?
On the other hand, if surface temperatures were, in fact, going up, would that not lead to moister air? And does moist air not correlate to precipitation? Did you not learn that in 4th grade? Skip right to 5th did you? You're a goddamn genius.
Any rolling rubber donuts around?
This winter's events are very easily explained by what is happening to our planetary weather systems. The evidence has been posted here before.
Mother Nature, Reality, and Science don't give a shit about what you believe.
Snow blowers at Logan
These look a lot smaller than what is used at Logan.
Not my photo, but description says it is Logan.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/98954055@N06/11758386475/