Down in the Pit: Before the RAT Mat is Poured *Completed*

The running of the telephone ducting begins. Three of the seven stub outs, which will configure the ducting bank rise above the trench.

The above trench bends to the south wall where several telecom ducting pipes will be stubbed out. A ducting bank, four feet above permanent
grade, will butt up next to the wall.

After the telecom Ducting Bank was laid in the trench, several layers of slurry are poured around and over the four-inch pipes.
The Ducting Bank terminates at the south shoring wall and will connect to additional Ducting as construction continues.

A view from forty-eight feet above permanent grade, the four-inch underground telecom Duct Bank parallels the south shoring wall.
The Ducting Bank elbows above the trench, at the right, and will eventually rise above the concrete foundation floor.

The seven telecom Ducting Bank rise several inches above the finished level of the soon-to-be poured four-foot concrete foundation
base. The deep trench is being filled with several layers (notice the to meet the permanent grade.

The last level of  slurry is being poured into the trench.  An excavator operator digs another telecom Ducting trench parallel to the trench to the left.

Note the “Caution Buried Telephone Line Below” tape, which is laid, down the center of the trench, between slurry layers. The final layer of slurry,
which was just poured will be covered with dirt as soon as the slurry has cured.

On the southeast section of the construction site, the trenching and the laying of the telecom ducting pipes continues. The trench in the
foreground will run north for several more yards before curving to the left to the east shoring wall.

The southernmost east-west trench splits at the island with one branch stubbing out at the south shoring wall as shown in a previous photo.
The other branch will bend to the right and stub out at the west shoring wall.

An inspector checks the width of the trench. Should the width not meet specs (too narrow), the trench must be widened.

Another view of the underground Ducting Banks, which pipes that splits near the south shoring wall.

In the shadow of the south shoring wall, the activity continues at the bottom of the pit. The four Ducting pipes that bend to the left will merge with the larger Bank of Ducting pipes stubbed out next to the north shoring wall.

Another view of the second telephone Ducting Bank trench, which is being dug parallel to the newly covered trench to the left.

Now that the construction pit is at permanent grade there are areas that need adjustments to be brought to final grade.
Two engineers (left and center) check the soil compaction in relation to the permanent grade marker.  The worker to the right is
using a “rammer” (a handheld soil compactor) at the bottom of the shotcrete application.

 Another trench is being dug where up to eighteen four and five-inch Ducting pipes will be laid and encased in a cement slurry casing.

From over the den of the excavator and skip loader an electrical engineer, standing in the trench, relays the depth to a coworker.
The excavation has reached the point where the machine will elbow the trench to the left (north) shoring wall.

Where the Trench Bends North

These four underground Ducting Banks will merge in the same trench with the fourteen Ducting pipes from the north shoring wall.
down the center of the trench

 Jason checks the Code Book.

The laying of eighteen Ducting Banks begins. The white spacers rest on the pre-poured concrete slurry.

At the base of the north shoring wall, two surveyors stake out where the large trench will truncate in the corner of the northwest inset.

The large Ducting Bank as viewed from grade.

Making the turn at the bend.

With the turn made, the Ducting Bank is attached to the north shoring wall.

The lower left quadrant as seen on 11.17.16 (from tower 2 – camera 3) shows the Ducting Bank, which is nearing completion.
As soon as the Ducting Bank is completed, the remaining ducting pipes will be encased in concrete
and the trench will be backfilled and compacted to subgrade.

From grade, a birds-eye-view of the Ducting Bank . . . eighteen pipes in all: twelve five-inch (electrical) and six, four-inch (telecom) Ducting pipes.

On Monday morning, following a welcome rain on Sunday, November 26, 2016, a shallow body of water in the center of the construction pit served as a delightful reflecting pool as evidenced by the reflection of the Medical Center in the mud puddle. Lake Loma Linda, as the construction crew dubbed the large mud puddle, prevented the cement trucks from showing up to pour slurry in the Ducting trenches.
One positive, the rain made it easier to backfill and compact the soil over the Ducting trenches.

Following the completion of this Ducting Bank sections, it was found that some of the cement slurry covering the ducting pipes encroached
in an area where a sump pit was to be excavated. The problem was resolved with an excavator and a jackhammer.

The footing of the caisson in the above photo was cut back with a jackhammer, as illustrated in the previous photo, to provide adequate
footing space for the sump, which when completed will serve as a catch basin for any condensation runoff from the drainage mat strips
centered between the soldier piles. Each mechanical pop out calls for at least one sump. The drains will eventually tie into
a central perimeter pipe, which will drain into designated sumps. Each sump is about four feet below subgrade.

Another Chamber of Commerce Day in Southern California
Overlooking the pit from the southeast corner of the site, the trenches that traversed the construction site several days ago
are now backfilled and compacted. On the other side of the ramp and to the right, the trenching and ducting continues.
Lake Loma Linda, which formed at the bottom of the ramp after a recent rainstorm has evaporated. The yellow line
represents the approximate path a trench will be dug from Ducting Bank number one (1) after the ramp is relocated.
The visible numbers is relocated. The visible numbers (1) through nine (9) are the areas where the electrical and
telecom ducting banks are stubbed out above the subgrade floor. Duck Banks ten (10) and eleven (11) will be
located on the other side of the ramp.

This view of the northeast corner of the construction site illustrates where the activity is the busiest down in the pit. The sloping-elongated
yellow graph-like lines illustrate the approximate location where the ramp will be moved. The yellow arch beginning at the lower left is
the approximate trench path.The Ducting Bank will terminate at the east shoring wall (center right). Numbers nine (9), ten (10), and
eleven (11) are the locations of three (3) Ducting Banks.

The electrical and telecom Ducting Bank that will stub out at the shoring wall’s northeast pop out.

A closeup of the electrical and telecom Ducting Bank installation.

An opposite view of the electrical and telecom Ducting Bank.

Photo Above: The miniature loader is backfilling the Ducting Bank trench. This project must be completed in order to relocate the ramp by the end of the week.

Photo Left: In this photo, there are three activities that are in progress: (1) The miniature loader is working its way along the Ducting Bank trench backfilling and compacting the dirt over the encased ducting. (2) To the left of the miniature excavator, an eight-foot trench is being dug for a telecom Ducting Bank. (3) Behind the miniature excavator, steel shoring plates, which will shore up the eight-foot trench are being unloaded.

For safety reasons (possible cave-ins), anyone working around an open six-foot trench or deeper, on this job site, must be tethered to a heavy     weight such as a dead man or in this case a steel plate. Another steel shoring plate is being prepared to be lowered into the trench.

A view of the pit from the eastern shoring wall. After several layers of soil is backfilled into the Ducting Bank trench, a roller soil compactor makes several passes over the trench. After the soil compaction passes a nuclear soil density test, more soil will be backfilled and compacted until the
trench reaches the original subgrade level.

All IS QUIET AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PIT
At the end of the working day (12-08-16), the chronicler stands in the middle of the pit the day before the ramp at the right (partially
in view) is moved to the northeast corner (see where ramp relocation has begun) of the pit. The reason for the relocation is to add
the tiebacks (anchor rods) to the soldier piles behind the ramp.

The second of three elevator pits is being dug in the center of the building pad. The first elevator pit was dug near the southwest corner and the third elevator pit will be dug near the center of the east shoring wall.

Laying out the elevation for the four-inch concrete rat mat (slab), which should be poured, barring forecasted rain, on
Thursday, December 15 and Friday, December 16.

   To give the excavator operator a view of where the bottom of the 1:1 slope line begins, Stan resprays the dirt with surveyors paint.

A view of the pad from the southeast shoring wall. The yellow line detail where a ducting trench will be dug. At the lower left, a miniature
excavator operator cleans out the dirt that fell in the trench while the ramp was being excavated.

These electrical laborers are in the process of removing four of the six Ducting Banks, which will feed the Ducting Bank along the center of the east shoring wall. These pipes must be laid at a depth lower than the east elevator pit and the mat, which will be approximately
three feet deeper in the northeast section in order to meet the weight requirements of a larger isolator, which
will be located in the northeast corner.
Vance, the skip loader operator, levels the final grade of the center elevator pit. Note the 1:1 slope side wall at the left.

The self-leveling laser shoots a beam to a machine control receiver, which is mounted on the back blade. The receiver allows the operator to keep
the blade level to grade.

The machine control receiver mounted on the blade of the skip loader allows the operator to visually see that he is on grade. If the blade is too high, red lights will appear in the triangle above the horizontal screen. Conversely, if the blade is too low, red lights will appear in the triangle below the horizontal screen. The operator will adjust the blade with levers to his right until the horizontal green line reappears.