Safety Week 2022

Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge

As seen on the front cover: In Washington, DC, the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative Program is a $10 billion investment concentrated on transforming the shores of the Anacostia River into a waterfront destination. As part of this program, the District’s Department of Transportation led the largest project in their history with the iconic arched Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge.

Aldridge was part of a team of contractors that began work in June 2018. Our scope of work included roadway and bridge lighting (aesthetic and navigational), fiber optic cable installation, sign structures, traffic signaling, duct bank, and communication and intelligent traffic systems. Aldridge also installed the building distribution equipment under the bridge and supplied power, lighting, and ventilation inside the arches for maintenance workers.

Crews utilized manlifts on barges to guide the packages in place while the duct bank was flown in on cranes from an over-water trestle extending out over the Anacostia River.

In order to install the distribution equipment, the Aldridge PreFab Team built and assembled sections that were rigged at an angle to slide into the window of the floor beams as one whole duct bank section. This greatly accelerated the schedule, allowing crews to advance the installation timeframe and work within the tight window for project delivery while maintaining an injury-free work site. These fiberglass reinforced conduits in the floor beams run the entire length of the 1,450 footbridge.

ALDRIDGE BUILDS:

EPC 138kV Transmission Line

Aldridge crews, as part of a JV with Kiewit, worked to rebuild nearly 40 miles of single and double circuit 138kV transmission line to increase electric reliability in Southeast Ohio. Aldridge managed the entire project and performed the civil and foundation drilling scope of work for this complex EPC project. Our alternate proposal offered a value-engineered approach. Utilizing our project planning tools, we were able to offer a solution that focused on pre-planning and allowed for condensed outages, ultimately leading to a schedule that was half the duration of the proposed schedule. With over 130,000 work hours, this project was completed over the course of three years, with concurrent construction occurring in multiple segments.

Responsible for subcontractor management and alignment, the JV oversaw operations of those crews that made up half the workforce on-site. Significant pre-planning was underway well before crews arrived on-site. Contractor coordination helped to navigate the challenging terrain, landowner management, and unique work scopes as described below.

Throughout the length of this transmission line, the terrain varied between heavily populated urban areas to more agricultural regions. The weather and terrain had an effect on work approaches and schedules. Landowner management became vital when working in urban regions, requiring more attention to restoration efforts.

In more rural areas, the use of our subcontractor’s helicopter became invaluable, providing a workforce equivalent to that of the use of five bucket trucks. It also minimized impacts on landowner property, crops, and equipment damage.

As a full-service utility contractor, Aldridge consistently provides a high level of safety, quality, and planning on all of our projects.