Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Day One of the Tunnel Installation

One half of the amphibian tunnel was installed today!! These pictures tell the story:

7:15 AM: Safety meeting with the site safety coordinator .

7:30 AM: Setting out safety cones and signage.

7:35 AM: Laying out lines for the trench.

7:55 AM: Rock-hammer punching through the pavement along the lines. 
A red squirrel come running out of the forest to perch, inquisitively, on the roadside fence. Rock-hammers do sound somewhat like a the trill of a squirrel, only much louder!

9:00 AM: Excavating the top layer of pavement before digging the trench.

Carefully making the trench size match the layout.

10:00 AM:  Adding crushed gravel over the bottom of the trench.

A hydraulic hoe-packer compacting the "crush" before it is raked smooth.

Making sure the base is at the right level.

12:30 PM:  Loading the trailer with culvert pieces that had been stored at a nearby gravel yard.

Delivering the culvert pieces to where the crane waited to lift them into the trench.

Each piece weighs over 19,100 pounds or 8.6 tonnes.

Lining the first piece up on the centre line of the highway.

 
Filling each culvert piece with natural substrate, slid down the board to the back end.

Natural substrate is a mix of soil from the forest floor (called "overburden" in the quarry industry) and crushed gravel.

Downed wood and litter placed on top of substrate in each section.

Lifting in the second section of culvert.

Lining the sections up to fit snuggly. 
No gasket or seal was needed because the culvert will not carry water.

13:50 PM: Lifting in the third section of culvert.

Adding and compacting "crush" around the box culvert.

16:15 PM: Culvert fully buried to the shoulder. Rip rap will be added tomorrow.

16:30 PM: Metal plate laid over top makes it secure to drive over.

Sure hope the frogs and salamanders will like it!




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