Pirouette of man and machine

When the construction crews arrived to repair the road in front of her house, the 'ballet' began.

from the May 2, 2007 edition

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I thought the semi would shudder under the assault. But at the last minute, the giant gently laid its load onto the truck's bed as if it were tucking in a babe for the night.

I looked at the portly king in the backhoe cab and gave him a thumbs up of appreciation for his skill. His face transformed into the grin of a kid at play.

For the next two hours I watched the perfectly timed ballet of men, machines, and trucks. The backhoe rhythmically chewed a trough along the road. In tandem, the handsome Nordic giant who wore the Bobcat like an overcoat followed with intricate pirouettes, scooping and depositing, leveling and smoothing fill dirt. The rhythm of this construction ballet moved to the beat of the Viking's gum chewing.

His performance also coordinated with the steady stream of dump trucks that brought piles of yellow dirt and gravel. When the Viking finished smoothing, a truck slipped ahead of him and into position. The trucker, satisfied with the location and angle, released the tailgate and the dirt slipped beneath, forming a tidy pyramid with only a fine dust rising into the blue sky.

Careful not to run over the little sports vehicles and family cars whizzing by, the dump truck tiptoed off stage, to reload for its next performance. The Bobcat, right on cue, moved in for another series of pirouettes.

Between the Bobcat, stage right, and the backhoe, stage left, the spray-can man with the tiny shovel meticulously scooped bits of dirt off the roadbed. He conveyed messages – via animated facial expressions and bold hand gestures – for all the performers from the backhoe operator to the truck drivers.

At both ends, just offstage, stood two men holding signs that told the waiting traffic when to enter the scene. In their other hands, they held phones or walkie-talkies and communicated verbally with the backstage crew filling and emptying trucks behind the scenes.

I applauded, gave thumbs up to the man and his shovel, clapped and bowed to the king of the backhoe, and wiggled my eyebrows at the sexy Bobcat Viking.

But, like true thespians, they remained focused on their performance.

Cleaning the last bit of dirt off the road, the spray-can man – with shovel swinging – followed the machines offstage.

Intermission began when the road crew jumped into a truck that drove up and whisked them off at the stroke of noon. The tires played a ka-thunk, ka-thunk tune, but now I heard it as a prelude to Act 2: road paving.

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