WARArticle

In September of 2007 W.A. RASIC construction company out of Bell Gardens California, began working on what would be one of there biggest projects to date.

The Project is known as the "North Reach Perris Valley Pipeline" and is located just east of the 215 freeway in Riverside. The Metropolitan Water District (MWD) has been needing a new pipeline to feed the growing Perris and Riverside areas, and once completed this pipeline is scheduled to deliver an additional 150 million gallons of water per day. With a labor and equipment cost alone of $39.3 million dollars and length of just over 2.5 miles (of almost all solid rock), not too many contractors were willing to attempt this task, but W.A. RASIC was the winning bidder.
The Pipeline starts at MWD's Henry J. Mills water treatment plant at the top of Alessandro Blvd. and travels west down Alessandro to just before the 215 freeway. Once by the 215 it parallels the freeway for a little over half a mile down to Cactus street. This will be the where the north reach section ends. W.A. RASIC company will be heading all the construction while Butier Construction Management will be working with the MWD and watching over progress of the pipeline to make sure deadlines are being met.
Because of the massive scale of this project, and the depths they are digging, as well the material they have to dig through, not to mention weight of each pipe segment they are laying, RASIC purchased multiple pieces of heavy equipment just for this project. Some of the large excavators being used are 2 brand new CATERPILLAR 385C L excavators, 1 brand new CATERPILLAR 365C L excavator, a HITACHI EX1200 excavator, a HITACHI EX800 excavator, a HITACHI EX750 excavator, 2 JOHN DEERE 450CLC excavators, a KOMATSU PC1000 excavator, and a KOMATSU PC1250-8 excavator. Wes Brodeur, Project manager for W.A. Rasic on this project, said the KOMATSU PC1250-8 (Pictured above) was purchased from the dealer and brought in on six trucks and then assembled on site. The newest addition to the site he noted was the HITACHI EX1200 excavator, this

machine was purchased used (with very low hours), and brought over from the east coast to finish up the third of three different pipe headings. Wes said that these are the largest machines available to the construction industry, anything bigger is considered mining equipment. All the excavators on site have been fitted with quick couplers to make switching attachments much faster and easier Brodeur also mentioned. (Like the HITACHI EX1200 excavator shown in this picture on the left disconnecting its ripper tooth attachment) Other large pieces of machinery on site include; a new CATERPILLAR 980H loader, new CATERPILLAR 972H loader, and a new JOHN DEERE 400D rock truck.
Even with all this heavy machinery to tear up the earth, the pipe's path needed an extra bit of preparation before excavation could begin. Wes described they used a method called, fifteen-inch-rock-perforation, or "FIRP" for short. This process makes the hard rock they have to dig through like swiss cheese. To do this, large 15 inch "relief" holes were drilled into the rock to make excavation easier.

Even with these relief holes large hammers, like the one pictured on this Hitachi EX800 excavator on the right, are still being used to break up the solid rock. Wes said that the rock they are facing is some of the world's hardest rock, blue granite. This rock has a strength of over 20,000 PSI. The hammer proven to be the best workhorse on site is a new 15 ton BTI breaker they purchased. (shown in this picture below attached to a HITACHI EX750 excavator) In other areas

where the material is softer and breakers aren't needed large teeth or "rippers" are being used by the machines to tear up the ground. Below is a close-up of the dual ripper attachment being

used by the Komatsu PC1250-8 excavator.
The average depth of this pipeline is between 20 and 30 feet deep. To safely and affectively get the job done W.A. RASIC created HUGE trench boxes to shore up the holes being dug. These HUGE trench boxes are 45 feet long and weigh in at 56,000 lbs each. Due to the depth of the pipeline and the long segments of pipe these special high clearance trench boxes were the only solution. Two different sections are used, first they put a 45' long by 10' box into the trench and then they place an additional 45' long by 8' box on top of that one, these two sections are bolted together creating one incredibly large

trench shield. As the pipe progresses forward these mammoth boxes are dragged forward in the trench as well by the large excavators. A total of 3 of the huge 45' stacked trench boxes are on site. ( Pictured on the left is one of the 3 trench boxes on site, this one at heading one. )
To keep construction moving at a fast pace RASIC actually has the pipeline being laid in 3 different areas, known as headings, at once. Three different crews are all working at once in different areas of the site, each is digging and breaking through hard rock to create the needed trench, and then laying a segment of pipe once enough trench has been dug to fit one of the 40' long pipe segments. Project Manager Brodeur said with these three crews working on different headings at once they lay an average of 120 feet of pipe a day, as long as they are not hitting too much rock. Each heading crew has its own pieces of machinery for getting the job done. Heading crew one had the KOMATSU PC1000, CAT 385C L, and HITACHI EX750. Heading crew 2 had the KOMATSU PC1250-8 and CAT 365C L excavator. Heading crew 3 was using the HITACHI EX1200 and EX800. The machines bounce around site between headings and are used wherever needed most. ( Below right pic shows the KOMATSU

PC1250-8 bringing over a new segment of 40' long pipe to lay into the trench )
The pipe (supplied by MWD) being laid on this project is called CMLC (Concrete Mortar Lined Coated steel pipe). This is a heavy duty steel pipe lined with concrete on the outside. The pipe starting from the Henry J. Mills treatment plant is 108" wide and 40' long. As it travels down Alessandro the pipe narrows down to 97" wide by 40' long. Each of these huge pipe segments weighs an amazing 33,000 lbs explained Brodeur. Some of the excavators on site weigh in around 120 tons and extra counter weight still had to be added to aid for when lowering these massive pipe segments into the trench. ( Below left shows the rear of the HITACHI EX1200 excavator and how additional counter weight has been added )

After each pipe has been put into the trench a special backfill called "birdseye" is placed around the pipe. After the birdseye the trench is backfilled and compacted with screened earth. W.A. RASIC even has their own screening facility on site. All the dirt dug from the trenches is loaded into dump trucks and hauled down the street to a large lot by the 215 freeway where it is screened and then reloaded into trucks to be used for backfill. Wes said that the soil they are screening here is so fine and good for backfill that they are actually selling it off to some of their company's other job sites. (below right is a photo of W.A. RASICS on site screening facility)

Ground water is always a factor when deep trenching and this site is no exception. The ground water flows pretty heavily is some areas of this site. RASIC has installed several pumps that pump out the ground water. The pumps then send the water through de-silting chambers before releasing it.
The majority of this pipeline is being dug and laid by excavators, but in some areas hidden underground work is taking place. Once the pipe reaches the bottom of Alassandro Blvd. it will actually tunnel beneath the roadway. W.A. RASIC came in and dug a huge 60 foot deep access pit (through solid rock) on the opposite side of Alessandro and then contracted FoxFire constructors inc. to tunnel some 400' diagonally beneath the road and then tunnel another 400' east under the active in service train tracks that lie in the pipes path. Wes described that tunneling beneath the road and tracks was part of the contract with MWD. It's a slow process but luckily we are allowed to use blasting to create these tunnels. On the rest of the pipeline blasting is prohibited because of the close proximity to other active underground utilities. (Below left shows a picture of the access pit, notice the still active 60" RCP storm drain pipe RASIC had to work around and then fasten to the concrete wall they created)

From within the access pit FoxFire is working on both the northwestern tunnel that goes beneath Alessandro Blvd. and the eastern tunnel that will go beneath the active train tracks at once. First crews come in and drill holes for the blasting charges. They then set of the charges blasting the solid granite rock. Then the next crew comes in with a special lowloader to remove the rock and muck. The lowloader hauls the rock and muck out of the tunnel to an awaiting bucket attached to a crane above, once the loader fills the bucket it is hauled out of the pit. The two crews work in tandem, one is in one tunnel drilling and blasting while the other is in the other tunnel clearing out the materials. Once complete they switch tunnels and continue the process until the tunnels are completed. Currently the tunnels are at about 120' in each direction. ( The top left picture below shows Wes Brodeur walking into the eastern tunnel. The top right photo is from within the eastern tunnel looking outwards, the pipe above is pumping in fresh air. The bottom left photo is a picture of FireFox's special lowloader. The bottom right picture is a shot of the lowloader filling the haul box with rock and muck.)