Operating Engineers News – September 2012

PDF HERE

I-80 is one of the Sacramento area’s busiest highways. It’s a major thoroughfare for commuters, an important haul route for truckers and a dream-come-true for road-trippers, as it crosses 11 states from San Francisco to the East Coast. Needless to say, it sees hundreds of thousands of travelers every day. And to think: Our operators are working underneath it all. Drilling under the highway is just one of the ways Ranger Pipelines and subcontractor Walter C. Smith are making it possible to transport irrigated and treated water from the Placer County Water Agency (PCWA) on one side of the road to customers on the other. This includes several businesses that, for years, have had to rely on wells.

 The $12.9 million project involves installing three key pipelines below the Ophir Road corridor between Newcastle and Auburn, and all three are being done at the same time to minimize traffic disruption. Operators will place about 5,000 feet of 60-inch pipe, about 5,000 feet of 45-inch pipe and 15,200 feet of 12- and 18-inch pipe. But it’s the section of cast-in-place, steel-casing pipes going under the interstate that is particularly fascinating.

Working about 25 feet below grade, Walter C. Smith operators Marc Eckman and Rey Noriega must accompany a Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) as it drills under the highway, filling up a trolley bucket with dirt as it goes. The entire run is 260 feet, but when the bucket reaches capacity, the machine must return to the open air for the dirt to be dumped. With help from Apprentice Andrew Payne Jr., Crane Operator Chris Hansen hoists the bucket up and over to empty it, before it’s returned to the pit and the process starts again. Members seemingly disappear into the dirt, like gophers burrowing underground.

 Cars driving above don’t even know they are there. With two pipes going in side-by-side, the TBM will make the trip under the freeway twice. Crews are boring about 15 feet per day, said Foreman Ryan Eaves, keeping the project ahead of schedule.

 Across the freeway at Ophir Road, pipe is already being put into place. Excavator operators Matt Nottnagel and Richard Dermody are working together to gently lower the 60-inch pipe into trenches they dug earlier. With help from Loader Operator Mark Nowak and Gradesetter Neil Garten, the Ranger Pipelines crew is averaging about 300 feet per day. Excavator Operator Ron Lorance is at another location, removing cement from a bore pit where pipe has also been installed. Like the section at I-80, the pipeline here went under the Union Pacific Railroad tracks. Though it’s a shorter section to bore, the same process was required. Lorance feels especially lucky to be working on the project, since he lives in Newcastle, just miles from the jobsite.

 Work on the project began in February. Construction was initially expected to continue through summer 2013, but crews are working quickly, so the job could end sooner, said District 80 Business Rep. Steve Laird. In the meantime, operators are logging in good hours on a jobsite that offers some impressive challenges.