My OperaOn the Road Again
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 5:13:28 AM
Last week I started a new six month assignment in San Francisco. This construction project is to stabilize the slopes on the North side of the Veterans Administration Medical Center. The facility is situated on the steep slopes at the mouth of the inlet to the Bay area and the Golden Gate Bridge, beautiful!
I drove down from Utah which should have taken less than ten hours but actually lasted seventeen. I was stranded in a blizzard crossing the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the infamous Donnor Pass. Since I am writing this I did come out alive and did not have to resort to cannibalism. If you are unfamiliar, google the "Donnor Party".
To stabilize the slopes we will drill and place nearly 200, 50 foot deep, 36 inch diameter piles and tie each one horizontally back into the slope at 3 different elevations each.
This is part of the sloped area that is slowly slipping away.
More of the sloped area where someone placed plastic trying to keep to moisture out, didn't work.
The mouth of San Francisco Bay
Drilling the hole.........
Placing a steel casing in the hole.
Lowering a steel I beam into the casing.
Beam in place, ready for concrete.
Pouring concrete.
One pile finished..........many more to go. For each pile we will excavate a terrace at three different elevations, drill horizontally and tie the pile back to the slope with post-tension cables. Once cured, the cables will be stressed forcing pressure to help hold them in place securing the slide plane.
I drove down from Utah which should have taken less than ten hours but actually lasted seventeen. I was stranded in a blizzard crossing the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the infamous Donnor Pass. Since I am writing this I did come out alive and did not have to resort to cannibalism. If you are unfamiliar, google the "Donnor Party".
To stabilize the slopes we will drill and place nearly 200, 50 foot deep, 36 inch diameter piles and tie each one horizontally back into the slope at 3 different elevations each.
This is part of the sloped area that is slowly slipping away.
More of the sloped area where someone placed plastic trying to keep to moisture out, didn't work.
The mouth of San Francisco Bay
Drilling the hole.........
Placing a steel casing in the hole.
Lowering a steel I beam into the casing.
Beam in place, ready for concrete.
Pouring concrete.
One pile finished..........many more to go. For each pile we will excavate a terrace at three different elevations, drill horizontally and tie the pile back to the slope with post-tension cables. Once cured, the cables will be stressed forcing pressure to help hold them in place securing the slide plane.
