Weekend Warriers

The Michels crew is hard at it this morning, continuing drilling. They are on the home stretch of the first phase, have worked to the north side of the creek.

Sure is a beautiful morning to be outside.

Friday Update

Michels Crew 10/27/10

The drilling process being done for the gas line installation is pretty cool... the contractor is Michels, and the horizontal drilling process is neat-o. It's hard to take pictures of it, seeing as how the action is happening underground. They are boring from the south end of the construction zone to the north, and on Thursday afternoon, they were just about to the south edge of the creek. The pipe will be 25' under the creek, about 60' below the road surface. They do an initial bore, then ream, then they will insert the line. The crew is putting in long days - they worked until 10pm on Wednesday night, and until 7 last night. This morning they were on-site and rolling at 6:30. It's unclear when they will be done - it's going more slowly than it sometimes does, because of the rock they are up against. Recall when PCI was putting in the pilings for the bridge deck they also had problems - the bedrock was sometimes elusive. They'll get there, though - this is by far not the most challenging project they've worked on. This crew has bored the Mississippi twice. Indian Creek must be just child's play.

60' below...

60' below this spot is how deep they are drilling the gas line. It's radio controlled from the south end of the construction zone. They are making progress, slow but sure.

In other news, a leak has been discovered in the water main under the creekbed that runs on the east side of the bridge. Maxwell is back on site to fix it.

Fall cover

They put down rye seed, an annual, and straw to prevent erosion this fall, the remaining planting of trees and regular grass mix will happen in the spring. The gas line work is ongoing.

Friday Update

The city announced the opening of the bridge to be pushed back some... http://easterniowagovernment.com/2010/10/21/opening-of-new-east-post-road-se-bridge-slated-for-first-week-of-november/ for Rick Smith's article about it.

Hope if you're reading this you've already voted in the poll for your guess on what day the road will open. 


Strange things happen in construction zones... the photo below shows the way they rigged the phone line on Wednesday. Not sure what happened, but it was hanging low, and they had to rig it to get it out of the way until Qwest could fix it (which they did yesterday). The line was held up by the bucket, then tension on the low side with the upside-down cone.

10/21 morning view

New Sac & Fox Trailhead

West side of the bridge

East side of the bridge

7:20 am view

 

It's getting harder to get good morning shots with the sun coming up so late... but there is action on the North side of the bridge today. The surveyors are coming out to select a new spot for the gas line on the north side, not sure exactly what the problem was, but better to measure twice and bore once, right? The pipe on the south side sits ready to go. 

This sign got posted 10/19. 

The asphalt guys are coming in today to do Phase 1 of the last of the paving, connecting the old road to the new bridge approach. There will be a dip of a few inches, then once the construction is done, they will come back and smooth it out.

When will it open? Comments, please!

It closed on March 15th, they predicted 7 months.

North side action

Not sure what they are working on, but all the action was on the north side early this morning.

pipe at the ready

It was quiet on the south side of the bridge this morning, the pipe has been assembled, will be bored under the west side of the road and under Indian Creek perhaps today?

New pipes

This is the new natural gas transmission line they will bore under the creek from south to north. The pipes stretch from Trailridge Rd to the power line right-of-way. There was also some pouring underway, some bridge finish work. Overall it is looking good!

Dusty morning

They were running the street sweeper this morning over the fresh pavement, raising dust like a soybean field harvest, quite lovely in the sunrise. 

Great progress has been made - the bridge and road are now connected on both sides, the Kennelworth Court intersection is paved. Maxwell has been out finishing the storm sewer enclosures.

It seems doubtful the Maxwell folks tagged their work like this... not sure what to think of that. It appears to say "shitake", with a paw print through it. 

10/5/10 painted rocks

They painted yesterday, looks great!

10/1/10 progress

Presenting the NB lane!