Buckner's Liebherr crawler cranes built giant roof structure

The Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York is the largest tennis stadium in the world and the venue for the US Open. The stadium is now getting a retractable roof to avoid the frequent match postponements at the US Open caused by rain. Over a period of ten months, a Liebherr LR 11000 crawler crane and two LR 1600/2 operated by American crane contractor Buckner HeavyLift Cranes have been putting the steel structure for the roof in place.

The Liebherr crawler cranes were a central feature of the planning and building of the structure. The space available at the stadium is very constricted. "The site was logistically challenging. A great deal of planning was required just for the assembly and disassembly of the cranes. Liebherr LR 11000 and LR 1600/2 crawler cranes feature an efficient erection process and short set-up times. That, of course, helps to keep costs down", reports Kevin C Long, Project Manager at Buckner HeavyLift Cranes.

After completing this project the Buckner team looked back at a successful job completed: "The Liebherr crawler cranes performed extremely well throughout the project. During the winter months we had to struggle with extreme weather conditions but the cranes continued to be reliable through very low temperatures."