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Publication Date: Friday, June 15, 2001

Under construction

Each night in our own back yard at the I-580/680 Interchange, the nocturnal stillness is broken by an island of activity. From midnight to 4 a.m., a special crew of welders, pile drivers, crane operators, carpenters and laborers works hard under a demanding schedule to finish the flyover from southbound 680 to eastbound 580.

The welders stand three stories up, working on the structural steel falsework columns that will hold the connector as it is being built. They wear protective clothing and a helmet shield that envelops them in darkness.

"It is so dark they can't see their hands in front of them," explained engineer Jim Adair of TRS Consultants, which does construction management support for the main contractor on the project, FCI Constructors. They work by the light of the electrical arc that jumps between the welding rod and the metal of the structure.

"They're basically working in the dark. They get the welding rod ready, flip the hood down and start working. They have a tough job," Adair said.

But such nighttime construction welders take great pride in their job, he noted. "The business attracts people who like working outside, using their hands. It attracts a lot of people who are somewhat free spirits."

Adair said it is a race for the workers each night to complete the allotted amount of work. "They like to make a game out of it, getting things done in time. They feel really good when they get that much done and a little bit more.

"It's really intricate work and they're way up in the air," he continued. "A lot of people would freeze if they got up there."

About 12 workers are at the project each night, usually eight of the contractor's men and four supervisors.

Adair, 40, puts in a lot of nighttime hours himself. He lives in San Ramon with his wife and two children, ages 4 and 8. He's been doing highway work for 10 years and has been on this project for three.

"You don't get too tired until the sun comes up and then it comes down on you. But time flies in the middle of the night. It feels like you've done a day's work when you go home. When do I sleep? Whenever I can."

"You find a lot of characters doing the night work, that's what I like," Adair added. "Lots of people like the challenge and the thrill." He pointed to the welders, snug in their harnesses, concentrating as they wielded their torches in the surreal atmosphere. "That guy up there - not everybody gets to do that."

Adair is dedicated to highway engineering. "The work is important. It does society good as a whole. We have to be able to get around - it's a tremendous part of our culture and economy. Everybody wants better transportation. It gives you something to be proud of when the work is done."

Working on such a vital hub makes him proud. "Some 275,000 vehicles go through the interchange every day," he said. "It's a very satisfying living. We're doing something permanent."

He likes the nighttime work during the hot summer months. He has worked in the California desert but says its heat can become unbearable with the protective clothing construction workers must wear.

He worked several years on the Bay Bridge retrofit after the 1989 earthquake. "It was the best darn view I've ever had at a job site, but it was cold and damp. I always had a cold." Of course even the Tri-Valley can be cold in the middle of a winter night. "Some nights everything is covered with frost," he said.

Ed Erickson, 46, assistant structural representative for Caltrans, is out at the interchange project every night. He lives in Sacramento but rents a room in Livermore.

"I'd rather be on days, but this is nice in the summertime," he said, standing beside the falsework at 2 a.m. on a balmy night, watching sparks fly through the sky. "You're away from home anyway. You get used to it, your wife gets used to it." He has grandchildren but said, "Most people with families probably prefer day shifts."

Most of his career has been spent in underwater construction, dredging docks from Anchorage to San Diego. His father was also an engineer. Erickson said the supervising is easier physically, although still there is a lot of climbing and he is working around dangerous equipment. "If I have to look up close, I'll go up," he said, nodding at a ladder leading steeply to the first level of the falsework. "You always have to be real alert in what you're doing."

Because 580 adjoins BART tracks, a BART monitor must be on duty at all times during construction. Larry Lemas, 59, has worked for BART for 25 years, as an electrician, electrical foreman and supervisor. He has been safety monitor on this project for about a year.

"I volunteer to work nights," he said. "It's cooler. But some nights are very cold." He works from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. "I usually go to bed at 6 a.m. and get up at noon.

"I like this project because I can get a little more involved. During the day I'm just an observer," he said.

He also noted, "For the time they get to work, this thing's going up pretty fast."

Douglas Chipman, office engineer for a Caltrans consultant, enjoys getting out of the office most nights to close connectors between 8 and 10 p.m. Dealing with drivers who are seeing a ramp close right in front of them can be harrowing, Chipman said. "They don't like it. They want to go the way they want to go. A lot of people try to sneak through at the last second. I've had people come up and see we've closed it and start backing up."

Chipman, 36, a Pleasanton resident, is enjoying working close to home. "I've taken my boys, 4 and 6, around a little bit," he said. Although he sometimes works nights, he prefers not to. "It throws off your schedule," he said.

The construction workers get paid between $25 to $50 an hour, depending on their job and experience, said Chipman, with crane operators paid according to the size of their equipment. Their unions allow them to retire after 30 years on the job.

They get a nighttime premium, as well as extra pay for weekend work, unless it's under a 40-hour workweek. "Generally speaking we work five nights a week, Sunday through Thursday," Chipman said. "There's less traffic and we want to give them the weekend. Friday night we're not allowed to close the freeway for as long."

The nighttime workers do not just contend with a lack of light and sleepiness. Even though traffic is rerouted, speeding vehicles are not far away. "Statistics show that highway night work is the most dangerous work you can have," said Adair.

It's become safer since the advent in 1992 of the California Highway Patrol's COZEEP or Construction Zone Enhanced Enforcement Program. Each night two CHP officers sit in a patrol car on the edge of the work zone to make drivers aware of the construction and to encourage them to slow down.

"Those guys volunteer to come help us out," said Adair. "They usually catch up on paperwork." He said when they drive away to take a break, the change in the drivers is noticeable - they increase their speed and often make obscene gestures at the workers. "We just smile. We get used to it," he said.

Working on the side of the road is even more dangerous, Adair said. Although it's done in the bright daylight, the traffic is closer. "When you get in an accident, you don't have a chance. The only thing in between you and the traffic is a line of cones."

It is also up to Adair to investigate vehicle accidents around the project. "There are a lot of single-car accidents," he notes. "There are more drunks out there at night - they're the ones who cause the big bad accidents." Just before the project started, there was a serious accident at the interchange; if it had happened a few weeks later, it would have been blamed on the project, Adair commented, laughing.

A lot of thought and planning goes into a project before the ground is even broken, Adair said. "We spend a lot of time and expense planning on how to accommodate traffic."

Much of the construction necessary to build the connector is not permanent. In order to build the bridge, an entire system of support must first be constructed. A multi-column falsework steel structure rises three stories into the sky. It will support the wooden forms to hold the concrete box girders that will span between the columns and form the structure. Once the flyover is in place, the falsework and the wooden forms will come down.

"It's as big a job to take it down as to put it up," said Erickson. "There are 280 pounds per lineal foot on the beams and posts."

Part of the system can be assembled during the day, but it must be installed on the falsework at night, with the freeway closed.

"We learn all the time," Adair said. "Every job is a little different, we don't do the same thing twice. This job is unconventional, with the multi-levels."

At 8 p.m. the nighttime work begins with preparation for closing lanes to traffic if necessary. Although the freeway usually does not close before midnight, it can shut down earlier if traffic volumes allow it, said Adair. But westbound 580 must open by 4 a.m. and eastbound by 5 a.m., except in cases of public safety, to assure a smooth morning commute.

Adair recognizes that drivers do not always appreciate the work Caltrans and its contractors are doing. "It's tough. They want to get somewhere and they think we're in the way."

"A lot of people express bitterness and frustration," he said, including those in vehicles speeding by the site. "But it could be worse - I have a friend who works for PG&E. I guess the ultimate is the IRS."

He added: "I want to ask drivers to please be patient and bear with us and read the signs. We're trying to get them through there efficiently and safely. And we're working diligently to complete the project."