The Week of July 22, 2019 — Four Pits, a Tunnel, and to Wet Your Appetite an Update on the Kitchens Too
The featured image for this post is of the north elevation of the Adult Hospital tower as viewed from Taylor Court. Upon completion of the project, the main entrance to the hospital will be widened and will loop around behind the flag poles and in front of where the white tarps are hanging. This area is known as the galleria and main entrance canopy.
Upon arriving at the site today (Monday, July 22, 2019), I was informed that Wednesday of this week, work would commence on a new pit near the southwest end of the building. This pit will hold a large “fire water” reserve tank, which can be used during a fire in the building.
Work continues to progress on the southeast pit, which holds four domestic water tanks to be used in an emergency. Gravel now covers the tanks and the gravel is being covered with black insulation.
In the bottom of the elevator pit, rod busters are positioning and securing the rebar in preparation for concrete to be poured on Friday of this week.
The big machines were working at the Taylor Street emergency generator site. On the west side of the site, an excavator was digging a trench for sewer pipes. A representative from the gas company was on hand in case there was an emergency.
Down in the deep trench on the west side of the building, I found a number of rod busters hard at work. They were scrambling to finish securing wire mesh to the remaining exposed dirt sides of the trench before the concrete truck arrived at noon.
In the meantime, while the big machines continued their mechanical drumbeat down at grade, men from Tower Glass perched high on a hanging platform were sealing windows some fourteen floors above.
Wow! What a Difference a Year Makes!
A Testament to What Men and Machines can Accomplish!
Four days shy of a year ago, the project was in the steel phase and had just topped out at the podium level. A few columns had been set for the adult tower. The steel structure was approximately six-stories shy of cresting the height of the iconic clover-leaf towers. Today, the new adult hospital tower dwarfs the existing Medical Center.
The Domestic Water Pit — Update
The laborers begin to cover the gravel with insulation. The same insulation comes up along the four sides and is folded in over the gravel. In the end, the tanks will be sealed in an insulated envelope.A northwest view of the pit just as the second TenCate Geosynthetics separation barrier was in the process of being laid. The two pieces are being spliced together. The two laborers at the right are connecting an elbow to which an outflow pipe (going to the building) will be connected. The inset image is a closer view of the elbow.What a difference a day makes! When I arrived on site today (07.23.19), the steel pilings along with the steel shoring plates were being pulled out. The west side of the pit had been completed with the sides terraced and the crew was working on the south side.Dumping the remaining gravel around the edges of the pit.The gravel has been sprayed with water and the crew is getting an update from the foreman above.Threading the chain through a hole in the piling before it is extracted from the depths some 40-feet below.The cab view of the Job site.The extraction begins.The piling is fully extracted.Three sides of the steel-plated shoring walls have been extracted and the side walls have been terraced and sloped to meet OSHA rules. Not all of the insulation has been laid over the tanks as not all of the piping has been completed.The next day they west bench began to be graded to decrease the slope into the pit area. I made my way down into the pit area and took this image standing in the southeast corner of the pit.With the low spots over the tanks almost leveled, the last covering of TenCate Geosynthetics separation barrier is being pulled over the gravel.
The “Fire Water” Pit – – New
The outlined area is the approximate location where the “fire water” pit will be dug.As the pilings are extracted from around the domestic water pit, they are laid out near where the southwest “firewater” pit will be excavated.The steel shoring plates are stacked near the excavation site.During the day (July 24, 2019), the “firewater” is in the process of being laid out and the CAT Telescopic Leader Mobilram system was staged. The cab of a CAT Telescopic Leader Mobilram system.The boundary lines are laid out.The boundary lines defined.By mid-afternoon drilling had begun for the piling holes. A closeup of the area in which the piling holes are being drilled. Because the soil is so compact, the holes must be drilled before the pilings are sunk into the designated holes.
The Schuman Pavilion Bridge Elevator Pit — Update
At the same time work continues on the Schuman Pavilion Elevator pit, another team erects the columns that will support the steel span that connects the new hospital to the Schuman Pavilion elevator tower. In this image, the south support columns are shown in the rebar stage. The north support columns are in the forming process.This image illustrates the location of the Schuman Pavilion Elevator Tower Pedestrian Bridge and support columns.The rodbusters begin to lay rebar in the bottom of the elevator pit.The following day the rodbusters continue to lay rebar.A view of the Schuman Pavilion Pedestrian Bridge’s north columns (see circle) as viewed from the northwest corner of the future Adult Lobby. The Galleria and main entrance canopy will be pushed out to the right.The following day, the rodbusters and surveyors will still at it in the elevator pit. From the previous day, the sump had been formed. This image was taken a few hours after the concrete pour. After the concrete cures, the carpenters will begin forming the sides.The forms for the columns of the Schuman Pavilion north pedestrian bridge were also filled with concrete earlier in the day.
The Taylor Street Backup Generator Pit — Update
Drilling a hole for a piling.A sewer line is being excavated for a sewer line between the power plant (left) and the backup generator site. The following day, the sinking of the steel pilings continued.Excavation in earnest. Filling a dump truck with the excavated dirt.With the sewer line laid, dirt is being returned the trench. A view of the backup generator site and the pit that is being dug as photographed from the roof of the Adult Hospital tower.
The Tunnel Trench Excavation — Update
Rod busters hang steel mesh at the bottom of the trench in which the tunnel will be constructed. The long view of the trench. Time was of the essence to finish hanging the metal mesh as the concrete was scheduled for noon.The following day, the shoring wall isThe arrow points to the barricaded tunnel access, which was boarded up when the shoring and foundation walls were poured.At last, the boarded-up tunnel access opening is being punched through as the retaining boards are slowly and carefully being removed exposing the other side of the foundation into level “A.”Working in 103-degree temperature, a laborer works at dislodging another retaining board between two pilings.From inside Level “A” behind the walls a closeup of the tunnel opening.A closer look at the backside of the barricade from the floor of Level “A.”The following day, the opening was larger. On the other side, a crew is hanging mesh in preparation for a concrete pour at 11:00 AM.Hanging mesh on the opposite side of the wooden barricade shown in the previous image. An overhead view of the trench site. The concrete truck just arrived.
And the Kitchens Too — Update
Looking at the northeast section of the adult kitchen.The children’s kitchen is not as far along as the adult kitchen.
After graduate school Dennis accepted a position at Loma Linda University. He worked there for 42 years in the areas of administration and financial management, also teaching accounting and management to dietetic students at the School of Public Health. Through the years Dennis has chronicled the growth of the campus, including the construction of the Drayson Center and the Centennial Complex and the razing of Gentry Gym. He is the author of "The Mound City Chronicles: A Pictorial History of Loma Linda University, A Health Sciences Institution 1905 - 2005." dEp 09.30.2016 🔨
