Going under par is the goal for golfers, but going under the road is the goal for contractors at the Lu Lu Country Club in North Hills, PA.
Caddick Construction, of Ambler, PA; Steffy Crane, of Ephrata, PA; and A.C. Miller Concrete, of Spring City, PA, are teaming up for work on a tunnel under a road that will permit golfers and their buggies to ride from one side of the course to the other.
Steffy Crane’s 180-ton (162 t) Grove will be lowering 11 concrete boxes, each 8 by 12-ft. (2.4 by 3.6 m) weighing 44,000 lbs. (19,958 kg), in a pit excavated by Caddick Construction, which has used a Case 9045B excavator, a Case 621B wheel loader and a Case 580L Super L backhoe, all purchased from Eagle Power and Equipment, of nearby Montgomeryville.
According to Michael O’Brien, sales manager of A.C. Miller, each piece of the culvert is being pulled together by eight post-tensioning strands. For every three concrete culverts that are placed, A.C. Miller crews apply three pulls totaling 28,000 lbs. (12,701 kg) to tighten the boxes together. To do this, workers are using a Lang hydraulic jack.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) is supervising the project because the work involves a road. Because of this, according to O’Brien, the culvert must conform to what is classified as “HS25 loading” specifications, which means the tunnel must be designed to withstand heavy truck traffic over it.
