Efficiency Production 2009
November 2009New Sheeting Guide Frame Helps Contractor Install Interconnection Line
The Florida Department of Transportation (DOT) recently let a job to widen almost 3 miles of State Route (SR)-50 in the heart of Orlando, between the SR-417 Toll Road and SR-456. Lane Construction Co., headquartered in Cheshire, Connecticut, was low bidder on the project.
Even though this is primarily a road building project, invariably underground utilities are encountered and need to be diverted, replaced, or upgraded in some capacity.
Lane recently installed a 60-inch steel casing for an interconnection line underneath SR-50 at a depth of 15 feet. The 80-linear-feet line connects two lift stations that will provide an emergency redirection of the sanitary sewer system. One of the lift stations is owned and operated by the City of Orlando, the other by Orange County.
Because Lane was working in the state right-of-way, it was critical to keep disruption of traffic to a minimum. Therefore, it was advantageous to keep the excavation as tight as possible, with as little over-excavation as necessary, and no sloping. That challenge required Lane to come up with a very specific, specialized shoring system.
In the cramped quarters next to the road, Lane knew that tight sheeting would be the best shoring solution. Typically, sheeting is installed with a vibration machine or sheet driver; both requiring additional on-site machinery and equipment.
Basically, Lane needed a no-extra-equipment-work-in-tight-spaces-install-with-regular-excavator sheeting installation system. The solution? A new, innovative swing-in-place Sheeting Guide Frame manufactured by Efficiency Production, Inc.—America’s leading manufacturer of trench shielding and shoring equipment.
“Unlike slide rail that would have eight pieces, this guide frame system only has four,” says Dale Ellis, Lane Construction’s project superintendent. “It took us only 1 hour to install the sheeting, rather than 3 hours.”
The 4-foot-tall, 24-inch-wide guide frame has a 7-inch slot in the center where 20-foot-tall KD-6 sheeting can be stood up and overlapped, then pushed down with an excavator bucket. The system was supplied with exclusive pin-on pushing caps for the top of the sheeting, which protects the top and provides more surface area for pushing.
Efficiency Production, “America’s Trench Box Builder™,” provides the widest selection of standard and custom trench shielding and shoring systems. Efficiency’s versatile products are designed specifically for safe and cost effective installation of utility systems and infrastructure improvements. All products are P.E. certified to meet OSHA standards. For more information, call Efficiency Production, 800.552.8800. ■
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