Its Hammer Time

No, No, No. Not that Hammer.

This Hammer.

The contractors from S.P. Pruzinsky & Sons have this cute little mini-excavator with a chipping hammer on it that they used to remove ledge and boulders from the RecPath. Chipping the boulders with a hydraulic hammer is more discrete and less damaging than tearing everything up with blasting and larger machines. That's one way they are able to do some environmentally-strategic work with limited disturbance along the route.

Here's an example of one spot south of the Dog Park where the Path was threaded between a rock outcrop and some red oaks that we were trying to save.

But you can't always use the little machinery to get things done. This is the medium-sized excavator that Steve Pruzinsky has been using to grade most of the RecPath. This machine has a hydraulic thumb on the bucket that is used to move boulders and build retaining walls. The goal is to make the slopes look natural were possible.

But the RecPath is going through some rugged terrain and sometimes you hit ledge that just doesn't want to move.

Then it's Hammer Time with the big excavator. The Pruzinsky team was able to create an 8% handicapped-accessible grade at one of the Wesley Drive crossings using this impressive beast. The contractors did a nice job limiting the time of construction near the neighboring houses by using some big equipment to knock this out. You definitely Can't Touch This.