Rainy Aftermath

So on the new project I'm working on, we are doing tons of drainage stuff and well, rain is not good.

This is supposed to be a check dam and the water isn't supposed to be flowing.... oops. This caused for flooding in a different part of the project. Serious problems on this site.

Taken Wednesday August 7th.

Dangerous Weather

On Wednesday, our dirt work operations were stopped due to the rain. Then, as you'll see in the video, our crane work was stopped due to lightning.

(And yes, that was a seriously lucky shot. I was just recording rain and bam!)

Big Hole

This hole is really big. The engineer that designed to keep all the soil and sand out didn't anticpate this much weight though and... well... the steel started to buckle. All work had to stop, and people were fleeing. Not much work can get done when workers refuse to go where they need to do the work.

They could legit die if just one panel was to break. Each panel is 1/2 inch of steel.

Yessssss

This makes my inner nerd surface!

A excavator lifting an excavator (well... technically it's a backhoe, but it excavates... so...)

A W E S O M E!!

Big Pipes

Look how big these pipes are! That's what's going underneath I-94 right now that required the crane.

Pipes in a row

Standing next to the row

Communicating by hand signals to the crane operator

Back filling the pipe area

Now we'll be prepared for the worse storm of the next 150 years. (Seriously, that's how engineers figure how big the pipes should be for drainage.)

Counterweights

I love counterweights. I was enamored when I saw the big boom under the bridge. I stared and stared at how it was possible that such a small machine held the weight of an entire hydraulic scaffold under half the length of a bridge. It was so heavy, and yet it moved on it's own power! I wish I had pictures. It was marvelous.

Today, another awesome machine was used on site. It took probably 30 minutes just to set up, but I watched this crane travel on the highway and transform into a beautiful weight-lifting marvel.

It's lifted off of the ground. I wish I understood completely the mechanics to why it needed to be lifted off the ground. How it is possible that those four pillars are suspending it and all the weight? I kept wondering why they put down those metal squares (which, what are those made of?) and I know see it's to distribute the weight. Gahhhh does my college offer a course in just hydrallics and counterweight systems?!

I wish I had footage of the entire pipe installation process using the crane, but alas, I would be deemed weird. Some of the goodies of construction will be kept in my eyes only.

(This was taken when the boom was raised from parallel with the ground to in the air, right as the machine starts to set up.)

Too High!

Getting density on the structure backfill. Density is pretty simple, but getting to the test site sometimes isn't. Yay scaling concrete barrier walls!

I'm on top of the world!

Some of the places on the wall were low enough to haul my huge butt over, but other spots... Not so much. That's why we are engineers though.

One slip, and a face of concrete.

Climb to the top of the car and walk over!

Lots of testing.

I had to wear gloves when lifting the gauge up and over my head. Let's pray for no radiation.

I Saw a Saw

Sights and sounds of construction.

That dust is really terrible for your lungs and he should have breathing protection. Dust is everywhere on projects.

Taken July 2nd, 2013. Saw cutting the new concrete approaches for rubber joint pouring.

Bush-whacking

Usually I never complain about the tasks of a job, since I could be doing a lot worse things, but man, this sucked. 

Before I even rant about what I did today, let's look at the weather:
Average temp: 82 F
Humidity: 88%
Feels like: 89 F

It's one of those dog days of Michigan weather, when you can't tell if it's sweat, or your body collecting moisture from the air. Sticky hot mess.

My task of the day: Measure Right-of-Way fence.
Now many of you probably have no idea what that is. I'll break it down for you. Right-of-Way is the land owned by the government on either side of a road. So yes, the land at the end of your driveway isn't yours, it's the township/city/village's. You just kindly mow it for them.

On the side of highways, the government doesn't like people (or animals) to randomly stumble through the woods (usually drunk) and start walking onto the highway, so they put up a fence. Makes sense. They also want to mark their ROW. Makes sense. But think about how often a fence way the hell on the side of I-94 is maintained. It's not. Why maintain it, it's way the hell from the road?

Next time you are driving down a highway, try to find the ROW fence. Sometimes you can't; it's covered in vegetation.

Now back to the narrative of my day: I was told to measure the ROW fence. In this weather. While it's covered in vegetation. And ticksssssssss. With a boisterous laugh, my task-giver finished his assignment with, "Make sure to bring extra tick repellant! Hahahaha."

The land of tickssss

It was awful. The total length was over 18000' (over 3.4 miles). I had to jump cross a small creek, walk in mud (more like slip-'n-slide), squeeze between the fence and trees, crawl underneath a pine tree spiky with new growth, toter on a concrete bridge drainage slope, scale a dirt hill less than a foot from 70 mph truck traffic (I got honked at twice from semis and countless swerves), climb the fence of thin wires twice, get whacked in the face with branches, and lunge over stumps, all while holding this little metal end of measuring tape and a can of spray paint.

The WORST part? Rose. Bushes. Like monster rose bushes. With thorns about two inches wide and four inches tall. FOR A MILE. (No pictures, because I wanted to get the hell outta there.)

I took some pictures of my journey, but not where it was terrible. Places with enough space to take my camera out, and where I didn't need two hands to squeeze, fight, and climb.

Finally a clearing!! Yummy hot forest.

I would have to search for these marks, stop, make sure the tape is not caught on anything within 200' of me (yeah right, it was caught almost every five minutes) and stand there until I would hear a yell in the distance or see a hand signal to find the next mark.

The tape used to measure was 200', so we would count the number of 200' places we went by making painted lines. I was in the back, thank goodness, so the guy in front cleared the way for me. I was very thankful for that. He also helped me over some of the harder parts of the task, like jumping the creek and the fences. I love working with awesome people! It made the day a lot better.

Hill! I was level with the overpass road. Look at the little cars muhahaha! (This was really scary, cars/trucks couldn't see me if I slid to the bottom into the road, super steep and slippery, don't do this children.)

Little gem at the top of the hill.

And while this was awful, I still prefer this to doing nothing. I like having purpose. It was so nastily hot. I at least sweated and worked off some weekend calories rather than sitting on my bum while sweating. Sweat was inevitable.

Going home to shower. Aww yeah.

This was super lame, but someone has to do it.


EDIT: I forgot the best part! I hardcore parkour'd today. I ran across I-94 and put my hand out, grabbed the top of the concrete barrier, and jump/swung in one fluid movement. It was totally bad ass. I hope the cars enjoyed the awesomeness they witnessed, and find a new-found respect for the MDOT worker.

Pouring Concrete

The sights of construction. Pouring concrete, first with a machine and setting it by hand. This is concrete drainage area near the new concrete median barriers.

Loading

The sights and sounds of construction. Remember that just moving things around to load and unload take time and special equipment. Construction takes a while, because it just has to sometimes. There's a lot more involved than people think.

Also, that woman should be wearing a helmet as per MIOSHA standards. Hardly anyone wears a helmet on this site.

Joys of the River

Sights and sounds of construction.

Working on the river is great. Cool, breezy, beautiful.

Taken June 5, 2013. Quartz aggregate being removed by a CAT941 after first coat of a thin epoxy application.

Rolling Epoxy

Sights and sounds of construction.

Watching them roll epoxy on the overpass deck on a windy day.

(From 6/28/2013)

Rainy Day

The sights and sounds of construction.

When it rains, it pours. The mud sucks your steel toes down into the muck. Tires bigger than you slip and slide with grinding motors into the slippery abyss. But most of all, it's cold, wet, and no one wants to work.

Sitting and waiting for it to finish and work to resume.