Air and Water Quality instrumentation tower at Buffalo Pass (Mount Zirkel Wilderness Area).
- Design and prefabricate tower structure to support instrumentation for five separate scientific entities.
- Transport tower and equipment over four-wheel-drive road to Buffalo pass at (10,000) feet above sea level.
- Excavate for, and pour four support piers on location.
- Erect tower with workforce and limited equipment available at the site.
- Excavate for, and run power service five hundred feet from existing microwave relay tower.
- Protect environmentally sensitive area, minimizing disturbance during construction.
- Photos: 003, 137
Transition Box for face gate stem, axial misalignment.
- Horizontal and/or vertical misalignment will result in “gate stem bind” during the raising or lowering of the gate.
- This device, which we designed, fabricated and installed, solved the problem on Comanche Lake, for the City of Greeley Water Division.
- The bronze slide bearings travel in a straight line with the gate and stem, respectively.
- The misalignment is rendered inconsequential by the spherical bearings at each end of the connecting link.
- Photo: 110
Rip-rap replacement on dam face.
- The removal of rip-rap on a dam face, for any of several reasons, usually results in the loss of the rock removed and difficulty in matching the face appearance, upon replacement.
- This device, which we designed and fabricated, mitigates the complexity of one solution to the problem.
- The rip-rap was removed by an excavator, with its bucket reversed, and piled to the side.
- When the primary project was completed and ready for rip-rap, the “Grizzly” was pulled up-slope by the excavator. The piled rock was then placed on top of the “Grizzly”. The finer bedding passed through the “Grizzly” bars and was graded by a dozer plate on the inside and bottom of the “Grizzly” frame. The course rip-rap slid down the outside of the bars and was deposited on the dam face.
- The depth of the deposit can be controlled by how rapidly the “Grizzly is moved uphill. Several passes uphill may be required depending upon the width of the cut.
- We started out pulling the grizzly up with a winch line, but soon found it could be effectively moved with an excavator.
- Upon reaching the top on this project, less than five ton of rock had to be added to finish the rip-rap. The match was perfect.
- Photos: 004, 005
Laramie Poudre Tunnel Access Road
- Pilot road up to tunnel outfall portal from Poudre River Highway (about one half mile, 7% to 27% grade.
- Install highway culvert extensions at initial end.
- Widen road by cutting and filling with surplus stock piled materiel form Forest Service parking area and from State Highway Department shops.
- Add hauled, screened rock to “base” lower half of road.
- Establish and grade four staging areas at different elevations for equipment, office and supplies.
- Remove large boulders from first staging area below tunnel, in order to straighten road and avoid aspen bog.
- Excavate for, and install air and electric lines to tunnel for project purposes.
- Haul tunnel spoil from pile at outfall portal to grade top half of road.
- Move equipment and supplies from Poudre River Highway (CO 14) to staging areas.
- Place “Jersey Highway Barrier” string up last seven hundred feet of access road (27% grade).
- Clean up all debris to US Forest Service Satisfaction.
- Plow snow to keep road accessible, during mobilization and staging process.
- Photos: 134, 135
South Fort Collins Water Storage Tank Relocation, Fort Collins, CO
- Scope:
- Separate top and bottom halves of five hundred thousand gallon tank.
- Load top half on beams and dollies with a two hundred ton crane.
- Grade or clear a temporary road down the foothills west of fort Collins, south one half of a mile, and back one third of a mile up the face of the foot hills, under a high tension line, to a site adjacent to an existing tank (west of Hughes Stadium).
- The top half of the tank was moved to the new site and temporarily set down.
- The bottom half was then moved by the same process and set into place by the, relocated, crane.
- The top half was then lifted and swung by the crane, rotated to position, and welded into place.
- The truck tractor was assisted in pulling the heavy load, off-road, by a large, four-wheel-drive, articulated loader. Each half of the tank had to be winched uphill under the power line for the last leg of the trip.
- The road was then removed and the path along and up the foothills was reclaimed and reseeded. No sign of the path was visible, six months later.
- M and M tank and Tower was the primary contractor on the tank.
- Parker Construction and Machine did the road work and the move.
- South Fort Collins Water District is the owner.
Laramie Poudre Tunnel Cabin Roof (The Tunnel Water Company)(8600 feet above sea level)
- The cabin roof was low pitched and leaked under heavy snow loads.
- The short time window between end of annual operations and winter snows, (we did not make it) required that the replacement roof system be largely prefabricated.
- The structural components were pre-cut to size on all pieces. The steepness of the new roof (assembled over the old, on a 9-12 pitch) and the difficulty of assembly under weather constraints, required the revision of the normal critical path of assembly. The existing roof was left intact to protect the cabin interior from weather.
- Roof framing was post and beam, bearing on the original steel building framing, and on new I-beams that were ran down each side of the buildings length. Supported by pipe columns (located on the inside of each corner) and at center of span.
- The rafters were Douglas fir 2x12s and beared upon the glue-lam ridge beam and on 2x6 ledgers bolted to the six inch I-beam, each side of the walls.
- Perlins spanned across the rafter and attached with deck screws. The sheathing and roofing felt ran up and down the roof, and were followed with the thirty eight inch wide steel roofing panels (pre-drilled). This method allowed the progressions across the roof with the footholds available for personnel. Pre-cutting and pre-drilling allowed for the rapid installation of the roof, even working in the snow.
- The day the project was finished and the equipment was moved out, was the day personnel were snowed out for the winter.
- Photos: 162, 163, 164
Grand Ditch Cabin Re-roof (Water Supply and Storage Company) (10700 ft., above sea level, in Rocky Mountain National Park)
- The existing roof was a steep A-frame (15/12 pitch), gap sheathed, with cedar shingles.
- Fire was a major concern in this remote location in the national park.
- The process to re-roof was similar to that used on the Laramie Poudre Tunnel cabin roof. The cedar roof was left intact to protect the cabin interior.
- 2x4 perlins ran across the roof and were deck screwed to the rafters. One and one half inch Dow-board insulation was installed between the perlins to support the metal roofing. Roofing felt ran up and down the roof and was followed by thirty eight inch wide steel roof panels. This method, as with the Laramie Poudre Tunnel cabin, allowed for footing for the crew.
- A prefabricated, fire-screened, chimney-cap tops the structure and helps contain any sparks from the wood burning stove.
- Photos: 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150
Temporary Tunnel plugs
- Working in an outlet tunnel or gate tower with water in the reservoir, requires a bulkhead plug to seal the water out.
- Along with the use of commercially available pneumatic expansion plugs, we have utilized several of our own design.
- We usually incorporate a remotely operated valve to allow flooding of the tunnel thereby equalizing pressure, allowing for bulkhead removal, after work is completed.
- Photos: 016, 017, 121, 155