Geauga County, Ohio, east of Cleveland, finds its fleet of five Gradall excavators are meeting county-wide needs for roadway and drainage ditch maintenance and other jobs on a regular basis.

The excavators are owned by the Geauga County Engineer’s Office. Under the leadership of county engineer Joe Cattell, a resource rental program was established to make the versatile Gradalls and their operators available to work for political subdivisions countywide that do not have the budgets to buy bigger pieces of equipment.

“We have three crews and a total of five or six Gradall operators,” said Frank Antenucci, the department’s administrator. “At least two of the Gradalls are out working every day.”

Under the resource rental agreement, the department is involved in maintaining not only 230 miles of county roads, but also 750 miles of other paved and unpaved roads in 16 townships, four municipalities and a park district. Geauga County has about 93,000 residents.

Gradall Versatility Advantages

Typical jobs in Geauga County involve drainage ditch maintenance, culvert replacement, erosion control, pavement repair, berm maintenance, drain pipe replacement and more. On one summer morning, operator Rick Poff was using an XL 3100 IV Gradall to replace drain pipes under driveways, and then cleaning drainage ditches at each end. Poff uses the Gradall’s ditching bucket to excavate old pipes, place news ones, spread stone and then grade the area in preparation for asphalt.

“We make good use of the Gradall’s versatility,” said Poff, who has spent about four years operating the machines. “We couldn’t do this kind of work efficiently with a track hoe.”

On Caves Rd., operator Kevin Holy is using an XL 3100 V Gradall to relocate a drainage ditch further from the road for better drainage, and then evenly spread rip-rap the length of the ditch. Without this work, water from a nearby orchard would wash out the ditch.

“I am in a Gradall every day, using it for everything,” said Holy, a Gradall operator for five years.

To accommodate the preferences of homeowners, Holy creates the appropriate grades for plantings and water runoff at the front of their properties, using the Gradall’s full-tilting boom to smooth dirt around mailboxes and spread top soil evenly for plantings using the excavator’s bucket-shake feature. The low-profile boom movement allows the machine to reach out under tree limbs where knuckle booms cannot work.

On Hart Rd., which is not paved and is located in a rural portion of Geauga County, operator Ron Quercioli uses another XL 3100 V Gradall for ditch widening. He places piles of rip-rap periodically to create silt screens and cuts the berms properly to let water run off the road evenly.

“Gradalls are pretty much our main tool,” said Quercioli, who has operated the machines for eight years. “We also use them for cleanup, picking up logs and pipe and pouring asphalt. Once you get good at pouring asphalt smoothly, you make it really easy on the ground guys.”

All of the Geauga County operators have worked with all of the Gradall machines, including two G3WD models that are over 20 years old, but still are used regularly.

“The newer ones are quieter and a lot more powerful to do a lot of different things at once,” said Quercioli. “The Series V machines are also more comfortable, and easier to reposition from the upper cab as you work along the road,” added Holy.

“Faster and quieter,” agreed Poff about the XL 3100 V models. “Very versatile to get a lot of different jobs done.”

For information about XL 3100 V excavators, or to ask for a demo, visit www.gradall.com/highway. Or call 800-445-4752.