In May, Underground Construction Co. was awarded Pacific Gas and Electric
Company's Mather District Feeder Main Gas Project in the City of Folsom.
Underground was delighted to be given the opportunity to tackle the project.
The project consisted of the placement of 4,500 feet of 12" steel transmission
gas main and abandonment of equal quantity of 8" steel main. The relocation
of the pipeline was to make way for the extension of Sacramento's light
rail extension into the City of Folsom.
Rich Swanson (General Superintendent) who has completed numerous natural
gas line projects in his 33 years with Underground Construction supervised
the construction crew. Rich summoned the services of George Castro (Superintendent)
who during his earlier years at Underground had worked with Rich on similar
work. Gustavo Elias (Foreman) and Jesus Ochoa (Foreman) teamed up with Rich
Swanson and George Castro to fast track the project. Ashley Carter was the
Project Manager.
The project was broken into two sections with a very aggressive completion
date of the June 28, 2003, for Section 1. To meet the schedule, two crews
were established to work at each section. Jesus Ochoa and crew excavated,
placed, hydro tested and tied-in Section 1 in nine days. Quite a feat, given
the new main was located in the slow lane of the very congested Folsom Boulevard
and with limited work hours.
Section 2 consisted of approximately 2,000 feet of trenching on Folsom
Boulevard, 2000 feet of trenching in dirt and a 100-foot street crossing
at Blue Ravine Road. Gustavo Elias and his crew had the challenging task
of tackling the heading of Section 2 located on Folsom Boulevard. Again
with a short work window, Gustavo had great success in completing the task.
Jesus Ochoa and crew completed the second heading of Section 2, in the dirt,
also with great success.
Among some of the challenges that faced the crew were difficult digging
conditions consisting of cobble and granite, restricted work hours, heavily
traveled roadways and ground water. The crew mitigated all of these factors
safely, productively and professionally. The crew also worked closely with
City of Folsom and established a very strong working relationship that benefited
the traveling public while minimizing the impact on construction.
Hats go off to the entire crew for their hard work during the hot summertime
afternoons when temperatures often reached 100 degrees. Enough can't be
said for Rich, George, Gustavo and Jesus for their effort and working as
a team. The project allowed the younger generation of Undergrounders on
the crew to gain valuable experience on welded steel work. Currently, the
project will be completed nearly a month of head of schedule.
We are grateful to have had the opportunity to work with PG&E's team
of professionals. This includes Clint Holsey (Engineer), Austin Hastings
(Engineer), Darwin Andoe (Project Manager), Bob Ballinger (GC Area Supervisor),
and Cliff Hayes (Inspector). | 
