{"id":427,"date":"2012-09-01T16:00:29","date_gmt":"2012-09-01T16:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theflatironblog.com\/?p=427"},"modified":"2016-07-28T19:26:13","modified_gmt":"2016-07-28T19:26:13","slug":"full-steam-ahead-at-placentia-avenue-grade-separation-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flatironcorp.com\/news\/full-steam-ahead-at-placentia-avenue-grade-separation-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Full Steam Ahead at Placentia Avenue Grade Separation Project"},"content":{"rendered":"

Crews have begun work on the $24 million\u00a0Placentia Avenue Grade Separation project on the border of\u00a0the cities of Fullerton<\/a> and Placentia<\/a>, Calif. The Orange County\u00a0Transportation Authority<\/a> project includes construction of a crossing\u00a0for the Burlington North Santa Fe<\/a> rail line over Placentia Avenue.\u00a0The new two-span precast girder crossing will be approximately\u00a0100 feet long and 50 feet wide, built on 24-inch cast-in-drilled-hole\u00a0piles. The bridge and rail tracks will remain at grade, and the new\u00a0road will be lowered below grade, passing under the overcrossing.<\/p>\n

Freight trains whiz by every 24 minutes and the grade\u00a0separation allows vehicles and pedestrians to travel along\u00a0Placentia without waving to wait for a train. BNSF anticipates\u00a0a 45 percent increase in rail traffic on the line by 2030. There\u00a0are six other contracts for similar work\u2014some overpasses, and\u00a0some underpasses\u2014along the rail line in Orange County.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese freight trains can be over a mile long and\u00a0when they come through, everything stops,\u201d\u00a0explained project manager Lenny Gardino.<\/p>\n

So far, crews have detoured vehicle traffic and are in the\u00a0process of completing a temporary bypass called a shoo-fly\u00a0that will divert train traffic around the construction site. Once\u00a0the shoo-fly is complete, crews will install shoring and start\u00a0excavation for the new crossing. Construction will also include\u00a0building retaining walls and a pump station, street improvements,\u00a0storm drain, sewer, water, and lighting improvements. Flatiron\u00a0is not responsible for track work, which will be completed\u00a0by BNSF. The project will be complete in mid-2014.<\/p>\n

Lenny, who has been with Flatiron for seven years, says that while\u00a0the majority of the work is pretty typical, the job is anything but.\u00a0\u201cThis is one of the most difficult jobs I\u2019ve been on,\u201d said\u00a0Lenny. \u201cThere are lots of different agencies to coordinate\u00a0with and we have limited access to the area. Plus, it\u2019s\u00a0an older city, so we keep finding utilities and other\u00a0unexpected things\u2014there are a lot of unknowns.\u201d<\/p>\n

The proximity of the tracks adds an additional layer of complexity.<\/p>\n

\u201cSafety is a priority. This is a busy area, so we\u2019ve got to keep\u00a0an eye on pedestrians,\u201d said Lenny. \u201cWe also are working on\u00a0and near active railroad tracks. We have a flagger there at all\u00a0times, but these trains are huge, and we get up to 60 trains a\u00a0day on these tracks. And it\u2019s not just freight, but also Metrolink,\u00a0Amtrak and commuter trains, which travel at high speeds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shoring on the project is also challenging. It requires\u00a0deep excavation, but because of limited space and\u00a0adjacent private property, crews can\u2019t use tiebacks.\u00a0Instead they\u2019ll install shoring up to the property line.<\/p>\n

As the work ramps up and bridge construction begins, about 25\u00a0people will make up the project team. Employees from different\u00a0projects are already showing up, which is part of the fun for Lenny.\u00a0\u201cMy favorite part so far is working with a whole different\u00a0group of people. I\u2019ve been working in San Diego, so\u00a0this is a different team for me. It\u2019s been great.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Crews have begun work on the $24 million\u00a0Placentia Avenue Grade Separation project on the border of\u00a0the cities of Fullerton and Placentia, Calif. The Orange County\u00a0Transportation Authority project…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":428,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[93,181,309,321],"class_list":["post-427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-project-news","tag-burlington-north-santa-fe","tag-flatiron-construction","tag-orange-county","tag-placentia-avenue"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flatironcorp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flatironcorp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flatironcorp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flatironcorp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flatironcorp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.flatironcorp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flatironcorp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flatironcorp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flatironcorp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flatironcorp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}