Because of its proximity to key cities on the East Coast, robust infrastructure and available workforce, York County continues to be at the center of a warehouse boom that started 16 years ago. From site work to building construction, Kinsley has and continues to deliver many of these projects along the I-83 corridor. Civil’s most recent project here, Trade Center 83 North in East Manchester included developing two lots over 200 acres for a 1,320,000-square-foot warehouse and a 526,000-square-foot warehouse.
To successfully meet an aggressive schedule, the team collaborated with a key subcontractor to sequence activities a bit differently. Typically, the drilling and blasting subcontractor works two weeks ahead of Civil’s excavating crew, but to meet the schedule, blasting and excavating were scheduled to start at the same time. To safely coordinate these activities around each other, the team used cut/fill maps to grid the work areas for the subcontractor. While the subcontractor was working in one area, Civil would be in another.
It was a seamless dance until they hit rock. Lots of rock. Thanks to previous experience, the team knew about the rocky conditions in that area, but what they encountered exceeded their expectations. By excavation’s end, they moved 400,000 cubic yards of rock – as much as 100,000 cubic yards a week. Sometimes excavating had to wait days until an area was clear of the blasting crews. Even so, the first building pad was completed on time, thanks to the support and resources available to our team.
At the job’s peak, our superintendent was responsible for the safety and coordination of 65 workers on site. There was an earthwork crew and three-to-four pipe crews on site all winter. They achieved high earthwork productions by using a combination of CAT 374 excavators, Volvo A60 haul trucks, Quadtrac tractor pans and CAT 627 scrapers. In just 31 days, crews moved 680,000 cubic yards of material – 70% of the job’s total. During this period, the team had multiple banner days including one day that saw 28,000 cubic yards of soil moved.
Even through the dead of winter, our team kept things moving. It was important to have the site ready for curbs and paving before the springtime rush. Their goal was to have the paving crew jump on this project on the first warm day and not have any other commitments. Usually, paving happens after building construction, but to meet our schedule, the team did the opposite. Finishing the curbs and paving first had the added benefit of leaving a cleaner and tidier site for construction of the warehouses.
Due to our resolve to meet challenges and schedule milestones, we were awarded another contract to upgrade Locust Point and Canal Roads to alleviate traffic congestion caused by existing and future business activity. Proactively, Civil met with the township, school district, bus transportation, local EMS, mail delivery and distribution facilities in the area to inform them of the impending road work and closure, and to talk through their concerns.
Making room for the logistics boom has its challenges, and this project has been a true success story in doing whatever it takes to solve them!
Categories: Featured Stories
