Day 184, 30 April 2013

It looks like another section of the wall was being prepared to meet its doom this morning. 

Day 182, 28 April 2013

A quiet Sunday morning

Day 181, 27 April 2013

Yesterday's events are a hard act to follow, but the work must go on, and a new facet of the job began today. I noticed this truckload of giant steel pipes under the viaduct yesterday (in truth, they would have been hard to miss), and wondered what was going to be done with them. This morning the first of them is being installed at the north end of the site. I missed the raising of the pipe from ground level and the initial steps in the installation, but i expect to get a better view of that part of the process in the coming days. There is a screw mechanism inside the pipe that digs into the earth. In the last picture in the series, a worker is busy clearing out the dirt as it reaches an opening in the side of the pipe. 

Day 180, 26 April 2013 -- Break Time

After the successful breaching of the wall and exit of the Hütte, things calmed down at the worksite for a few minutes.  

To the best of my knowledge, there isn't really a "Men of F.H. Paschen" calendar, but if there ever is, this guy should be on the cover.

And finally, as promised, your humble blogger was awarded her very own pink hardhat, and stepped out from behind her not very effective veil of anonymity to commemorate the occasion with this lovely picture.  I am both honored and grateful. Thanks, guys!

Day 180, 26 April 2013

It was a very exciting morning, as the first part of the wall was taken down and the Hütte drill (formerly known as "Big Blue") made its dramatic exit. The first picture was taken at 7:35 and is the last picture of the wall in its intact condition. The shiny yellow Volvo was brought in to drill through the wall.

The remaining pictures were taken shortly before 9:30 and show the Hütte making a slow and stately exit from the scene. It really was a spectacular sight.

Day 179, 25 April 2013

There was a whole lot of digging going on today....

Day 177, 23 April 2013

The platform at the south end of the site was dismantled this morning, 

so it looks like the tiebacks are finished.

The view through the fence at ground level. 

Day 176, 22 April 2013

The installation of the double row of walers continues. The top picture shows the length of the steel walers. I'm not sure if there is a name for the short steel pieces that form a box-like enclosure around the tiebacks. I did a quick Google search of the terms "tiebacks" and "walers" in hopes of finding a labeled diagram, but the results were more odd than helpful: My own pictures from this blog were up near the top of the search results and were accompanied by a few technical diagrams and row after row of pictures of curtain tiebacks. 

It's warm enough today to have a window open, but the work isn't especially loud (at least at the moment) so i haven't had to resort to wearing ear plugs. I'm enjoying listening to the sporadic crackling of the welding torches.

And a little while later, the Bobcat headed back to the north end of the worksite and started excavating some of the dirt. All of this dirt will need to be dug out and carted away before the wall is removed. I'm not certain if another row of tiebacks will need to be installed as more area becomes exposed or if the row that is being finished up now will be sufficient. 

Day 173, 19 April 2013

The rain has ended and the puddles have dried up, so it's back to the business of installing the second row of walers.  

Day 172, 18 April 2013

Torrential rains turned the construction site into a lake this morning.

Day 171, 17 April 2013

This series of pictures was taken between 07:50AM and 12:10PM today and is arranged in chronological order. Working at the narrow southern end of the site presents some logistical challenges since the work area is not wide enough to accommodate Big Blue, making the additional wooden platform necessary. Complicating things further today was the arrival of heavy rains a little before 10:00. It couldn't have been much fun slogging through all that mud, but a lot of work was accomplished in spite of it.