Future of road maintenance rests with joysticks

Sitting idly on the southern end of the District 3 road maintenance yard sits the future of road maintenance, a grader controlled by joysticks – with no steering wheel.

The 22-ton Caterpillar road grader, in its trademark yellow and black paint scheme, looks like an ordinary piece of heavy equipment. But once you look inside the cab of the machine, the difference is readily apparent.

Missing from the one-person cab is a steering wheel. Instead, this road grader is the shape of things to come. Joysticks control the vehicle. The joystick to the left of the operator controls steering; the right joystick controls the blade on the underside of the Caterpillar 14-M road grader. Controls on the two joysticks replace 15 levers that can be found in older models.

District 3 Road Foreman Art Soto and crew have been the “guinea pigs” for the Public Works Department to test the new controls. So far the experiment has had some good reviews from employees who are used to the familiar steering wheel and other manual controls.

“It felt awkward at first,” Soto said. “You’re used to getting in and pulling the console towards you,” he added. “But once you get in there and run the machine for a while you get used to it.”

Fleet Maintenance Director Rey Flores said Empire Machinery of Mesa loaned the machine to the county so workers could test it.

While examining the new grader in the District 3 yard, Soto said the idea behind putting joysticks in the cab of a grader and other heavy equipment machines targets the next generation of road construction workers.

“I was at a seminar about 15 years ago, Soto said, “and a representative from Empire Machinery told us that since a lot of the ‘old timers’ were retiring, they were having a hard time filling positions. Kids who grew up with video games will have a better time controlling the grader. So that is what the joysticks are for, to attract a new generation. Hopefully it will work.”

Soto added that the joysticks are not the only new addition to the 14-M road grader. The engine has 25 more horsepower for better performance and more windows for operator safety.

“It makes it a lot easier to see where you are going and where you are pushing the materials. That’s another positive.”

Flores says that the county is still evaluating the machine. There are no plans to purchase any road graders at this time.