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Central Contra Costa Sani-tary District Installs A-LineRelief Interceptor with116-in. Akkerman EPBM

The City of Concord, Calif:,together withCentral Contra Costa Sanitary District(CCCSD)isreplacing an essential sewer linewhich will decommissionone of the largestpumping stations in the country. The cur-rent phase ofthis project willplace pipelinesunder a golf course, major intersections ina commercial area and alongside a creek.The A-Line Relief Interceptor Phase 2Awill employ the use of several constructionmethods. The earth pressure balance ma-chine (EPBM) will install 3,000 If of 96-in.reinforced concrete pipe (RCP), a microtun-nelingsystem willinstall 870Ifof 72-in.RCPand 540If of twin 48-in.RCP segments willbe open cut.

The 116-in. Akkerman EPBM will make way for20-ft long sections of 96 ID tunnel pipe.

The existing 78-in. diameter sewage col-lectionlinetravels to the ConcordPwnp Sta-tion. The 30-year-old,30- to 39-in.diameterforce main can not be inspected or main-tained given that there is no way to take itout of service. Additionally,the force mainoffersno optionsforwet weather overflow.

In the 199Os,CCCSD created a 102-in.interceptor, positioned downstream, duringimprovements to the larger collectionsys-tem in hopes to tie it into a gravity sewer inthe future. This foresight made this currentgravity sewer installation more straightfor-ward.

The new 4,400-ft larger capacity grav-ity flow connection will eliminate the needfor the Concord Sewage Pwnp Station. Itselimination presents an estimated $350,000

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yearly cost savings in electricity, manpower,chemicals and maintenance.

The project general contractor is Moun-tain Cascade Inc., Livermore, Calif: andthe tunneling contractor is Pacific Boringof Caruthers, Calif: Pacific Boring is usingan Akkerman Inc. manufactured 116-in.

EPBM and intermediate jacking stations toreduce jacking force by distributing thruston long drives. The EPBM excavates the soilat the cutting face and transports the spoilsvia ribbon auger to muck cars and haul units.As the EPBM advances a 2O-1f:96 ID RCPsection is placed in the jacking frame andpushed forward.

Pacific Boring's scope of work entails pipejacking 3,000 ft of 96 ID pipe in two drives.The EPBM will use the same 250ft deep, oc-tagonalJaunch shaft to complete both drives.Upon completion of the first drive, theEPBM will launch again 135 degrees fromthe first entry point for the second drive. Asof this date of publication, Pacific Boring suc-cessfully completed the first drive.

Fbture work includes connecting the 96-inRCP to 72-in RCP in two microtunnel drives.The drives will total 870 If: and will be com-pleted with an Akkerman MTBM SLOOwithan increase kit and MT890 jacking frame.The 72-in. pipeline will connect to 540 If of 48-in. twin pipelines which will be open cut 540ft between the banks of the Walnut Creek

channel. Before the final project is fully putinto use, CCCSD will test its effectiveness in

a wet season cycle to ensure its productivity.

ICEto Host Channel TunnelRail Link Seminar

David Caiden, the chairman of the Insti-tution of CivilEngineers New York Metro-politan Local Association will be introduc-ing David Orr, the President of the BritishInstitution of CivilEngineers (ICE), as thekeynote speaker of a seminar to be held inNYC at the New York University KimmelCenter (WashingtonSquare) on Oct.2, from8 a.m. to 2 p.rn. The seminar will be aboutthe high speed Channel 'funnel Rail Link(CTRL) project in the UK and the event istitled Channel 'funnel Rail Link: An urbansuccess story.

The line isnow officiallynamed High Speed1 (HSl) and is the first true high speed railline in Britain and it links the Channel 'fun-

nel with Europe through St. Pancras Stationin London. The construction contained animmense amount of state-of-the-art tunnel-

ing. The planning, procurement and contractprocesses are very different from what hap-pens in the United States. Fbnding for See-

Tunne' Bullne. Magazine

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tion 2, on which construction started in July2001, came from a mixture of Governmentbonds, Railtrack's purchase of Section 1 anda £2.2 billion grant. The last section of the 69-mile line opened to the public some monthsago after getting full government approvalin 1996. The total project costs were around$10 billion and the project was delivered ontime and in budget.

The New York Local Association of ICE

has invited speakers from the project teamin the U.K. as well as respected local in-dustry leaders for a closing panel debate todiscuss whether the lessons learned on the

project could be used in the United States,how such a project would be delivered hereand whether there is anything that could bedone differently or better. The discussionwill be based on the material presented bythe invited speakers.

Assisting in organizing the event areNYU's Wagner Rudin Center for 'Jhms-portation Policy and Management who havecompleted two HSR studies in the UnitedStates and are currently involved in an inter-national study of mega-projects with a Lon-don-based university involving ten countriesand thirty case studies. Corporate sponsorsfor the event will be Arup, Bechtel, Halcrow,Parsons Brinckerhoff; Skanska and Systra.

The seminar organizers intend to offercertificates for 2.5 PDHs and entrance to

the event will cost $100 per person includingbreakfast and lunch (student rate $60) andtables of 10 can be reserved for $800. Indi-vidual places or tables can be obtained bycontacting Martin Ellwood at (212) 695-2463or MEUwood@MTA-ESAarg.

ToughTimes for ModernContinental

Onebusiness day after facing charges infederal court, Modern Continental filed forbankruptcy protection.

Modern Continental was the largest con-struction contractor on the Big Dig and wascharged with making false statements aboutthe quality of the construction work it per-formed, submitting false time and materialsinformation on contracts and wire fraud. Ifconvicted, Modern Continental would facefines of up to $500,000and restitution couldreach in to the tens of millionsof dollars.

Modern Continental responded to thecharges in a statement, which read inpart: "The charges represent an attemptafter the fact to criminalize actions thatwere either approved by the project man-ager and state authorities or representedbookkeeping errors that the company ulti-

August2008