Temporary driveway

Abstract

A temporary driveway for new home construction includes one or more removable pre-cast planks. The pre-cast planks are constructed of reinforced pre-cast concrete and are sized to accommodate the passage of vehicles over their surface. The reinforcement is in the form of a row of pre-stressed cables adjacent the top surface and the bottom surface of the plank. Four lift inserts are recessed into the top surface of the plank near each of the corners of the plank to balance the load during lifting. The pre-cast planks are lifted with a standard lifting rig such as a boom crane attached to the lift inserts. The pre-cast planks are transported to a construction site, lifted from the transport vehicle by a standard lifting rig, and placed in a desired location at a new home construction site. Several pre-cast planks are placed end-to-end to form the temporary driveway. When the temporary driveway is no longer needed, the pre-cast planks are lifted and transported away from the construction site.

1 . A method for constructing a temporary driveway comprising the steps of: 
 preparing a location at a job site as a temporary driveway location;    transporting at least one pre-cast plank to the location;    successively positioning each plank adjacent each other at the location to form a temporary driveway; and    subsequently removing the pre-cast plank from the location.    
   
   
       2 . The method for constructing a temporary driveway of  claim 1 , wherein the step of transporting includes loading the at least one pre-cast plank onto a hauling vehicle and unloading the at least one plank form the vehicle at the job site.  
   
   
       3 . The method for constructing a temporary driveway of  claim 1 , wherein the step of successively positioning each plank includes lifting each plank with the plank substantially horizontal and lowering the horizontally positioned plank onto the location.  
   
   
       4 . The method for constructing a temporary driveway of  claim 1 , wherein the pre-cast plank is formed of concrete.  
   
   
       5 . The method for constructing a temporary driveway of  claim 1 , wherein the step of preparing a location includes at least rough grading the location to form a driveway.  
   
   
       6 . The method for constructing a temporary driveway in which each pre-cast plank has a plurality of lifting elements embedded within the plank and the step of successively positioning includes engaging the lifting elements.  
   
   
       7 . A temporary driveway comprising: 
 a plurality of pre-cast planks positioned end-to-end to form a driveway surface for a motor vehicle; and    a plurality of lifting elements embedded within a top surface of each of said plank, said lifting elements configured to be removably engaged by a lifting apparatus to lift, transport and lower each pre-cast plank onto the location for the temporary driveway.    
   
   
       8 . The temporary driveway of  claim 7 , wherein each of said plurality of pre-cast planks has a length of about  10  feet and a width of about 12 feet.  
   
   
       9 . The temporary driveway of  claim 7 , wherein each of said plurality of pre-cast planks has a thickness of at least about 8 inches.  
   
   
       10 . The temporary driveway of  claim 7  wherein each of said plurality of pre-cast planks is formed of concrete.  
   
   
       11 . The temporary driveway of  claim 10 , wherein each of said plurality of planks is cut from a single extruded concrete plank.  
   
   
       12 . The temporary driveway of  claim 7  wherein each of said plurality of pre-cast planks is reinforced with an array of pre-stressed cables spanning a length of said plank.  
   
   
       13 . The temporary driveway of  claim 12  wherein said array of pre-stressed cables includes an upper row of a plurality of cables and a lower row of a like plurality of cables, wherein said upper row is embedded within said plank adjacent to the top surface thereof and said lower row is embedded within said plank adjacent to the bottom surface thereof.  
   
   
       14 . The temporary driveway of  claim 13 , wherein cables of said upper and lower rows are spaced at approximately one foot intervals.  
   
   
       15 . The temporary driveway of  claim 12 , wherein each of said pre-stressed cables is stressed to 31000 psi.  
   
   
       16 . The temporary driveway of  claim 7 , wherein said plurality of lifting elements includes four lift inserts recessed within said top surface and position ed on said top surface so that said plank can be lifted and carried by said lift inserts in a substantially horizontal orientation.  
   
   
       17 . The temporary driveway of  claim 16 , wherein said plurality of lifting elements includes a first pair of spaced apart lift inserts recessed into said top surface adjacent a first end and a second pair of spaced apart lift inserts recessed into said top surface adjacent an opposite second end.  
   
   
       18 . The temporary driveway of  claim 16 , wherein: 
 each of said plurality of pre-cast planks is reinforced with an array of pre-stressed cables spanning a length of each plank; and    each said four lift inserts are attached to a corresponding one of said pre-stressed cables.    
   
   
       19 . The temporary driveway of  claim 16  wherein said four lift inserts are dogbone lift inserts.  
   
   
       20 . The temporary driveway of  claim 7  wherein the pre-cast plank is formed of a polymeric or resin material.