Credit: Original article published here.

Earlier this year, Wells Concrete was awarded the Franklin Light Rail Maintenance Facility addition in Minneapolis with general contractor, LS Black. The bidding documents showed 75’ access to set the panels and the power lines used for the trains would be taken down for safety accommodations during erection.  However, during the installation schedule phase, it was determined that the power lines could not be taken down.  This change in site access meant a new erection plan was needed quickly and Wells Concrete leveraged the help of Continental Crane.  The main challenge was that the load of 25,653 lbs. had to be set 200’ from the only available crane set up location up and over the power lines. We worked closely with LS Black and Met Counsel to coordinate the de-energizing of the lines and with the help of a 3D visual crane  plan, Continental Crane’s pick plan showed both LS Black and the Met Council a detailed drawing of how we could execute setting these panels.

The crane that was selected is the largest All-Terrain (AT) Hydraulic crane in the state.  The Terex AC 500-2 is a 600-ton capacity crane and it was able to perform the job with 308,600 lbs. of counterweight.   The crane used 108.9’ of main boom and 177’ of luffing jib to reach up and over the power lines setting the panels safely.  To mobilize the crane, there were ten truckloads of counterweight and luffing jib.

The Franklin job had a lot of changes and challenges along the way from concept to completion, but by enlisting a great partner, Wells Concrete was able to complete the project on time and with minimal budget impacts.

Check out the pick plan for the crane changes HERE.

Jesse Hiller
VP of Construction Services