FINAL ASS: The Road Warriors

A stretch of the I-35 highway that leads southbound into Norman. The Haskell Lemon Construction Company has been working on widening the lines for almost two years.

A milling machine digging into the road and spitting the asphalt into a dump truck. The milling machine costs roughly one million dollars.

(From left) Jackie Davis and Randy Fortner observing the grinding gears of the milling machine.

Randy Fortner measures how deep the milling machine’s cut. The machine was digging three inches into the ground and moving at roughly 1 mph.

Randy Fortner changing how deep the milling machine will cut into the old asphalt.

Jackie Davis stands in front of his boss’s truck. This photo illustrates how dark it is while Davis works. His night shift lasts from 6 p.m. to about 3 a.m.



Randy Fortner connects a hose to the water truck behind the milling machine.



Sharp gears known as teeth sit below the milling machine. From left Jackie Davis, James McClaim and Randy Fortner replacing the gears. The three have been working together for three years.


Randy Fortner swings a mallet to replace the milling machine’s teeth. The noise from the collision of the hammer and the teeth is deafening.


James McClaim loosening gears beneath the milling machine. The machine has nearly 200 teeth.


From left Jackie Davis and James McClaim remove gears beneath the milling machine.



A paver crew lays new asphalt over the freshly cut road. After the asphalt is released, it’s hot enough to melt through the soles of tennis shoes.

A close up of a driver of the paver machine.

After a night of using the milling machine, Randy Fortner and Jackie Davis (from left) remove a majority of the teeth below the milling machine. This process can take hours.

Teeth sitting at the feet of Jackie Davis.

A view of the traffic from the bridge above Indian Hills Road. Haskell Lemon Construction ends its construction work on I-35 this month.