Projects & News

HRSG Stacks moved to site in St. Paul

Four 19' diameter by 82' long HRSG stack sections were shipped up the Mississippi River from Muscatine, IA to St. Paul, MN where VIC'S off-loaded the pieces from hopper barges and moved them into site. The 145,000 lbs. stack sections measured over 28' tall when loaded on the trailer. The four stacks were off-loaded with a 550-ton all-terrain crane and moved into site with a ten line Goldhofer in two long working days.

This project was the last major work activity for VIC'S at the Xcel High Bridge Plant. VIC'S is proud that we were able to complete this 15-month project on schedule and without a single recordable injury or lost day. Only one first aid and one minor property damage incident were experienced on this project for VIC'S.

Heaviest load to cross Wisconsin bridge managed with ten dollies

VIC'S recently completed an innovative heavy-haul job in Portage County, WI., just west of the Wisconsin River. This job required the movement of a 490,000 lb. transformer over state and local roadways (a total loaded weight of 774,000 lbs.) from a rail siding in Wisconsin Rapids to a substation located at Stevens Point, WI. To accomplish this move, VIC’S used a sixteen line 3.5 meter Goldhofer configuration with spreader beams.
 
As part of the project, VIC’S negotiated a permit and obtained engineering consultation so this could cross a 136’ long three-span bridge, which stood as a major obstruction to moving the transformer. At the bridge, ten dollies were arranged five to a side, enabling this load to widen to a 24’ footprint and safely gain approval from County officials. Furthermore, VIC’S efficiently avoided a transfer of the transformer to and from a highway trailer by installing beams and dollies just prior to the bridge and removing them after the maneuver was completed.

Once the bridge was crossed, the load was carried successfully by highway to its destination in Stevens Point, WI.

First Job for 550-ton 2007 DEMAG 2500-1 is the largest Nordex Wind Generator in the USA

There is a five mile long ridge south of Wadena, MN, where there will soon be 22 Nordex wind generators. The first of these huge structures was erected in June 2007 with completion of the wind farm scheduled for Fall of 2008.

At 265 feet tall, the wind turbine tower has three fiberglass blades, each at 145 feet long. Total height of the unit is approximately 410 feet and, at this writing, is the largest Nordex wind generator in the United States.

This project was VIC'S first opportunity to use the new 2007 DEMAG CC2500-1, a 550 ton crawler. This crane has 413 feet of main boom with jib combination to 552 feet. To transport CC2250-1 with maximum boom and counterweights requires 36 truckloads.

VIC'S slides 1050-ton, 99' tall Super Modules into building

Innovative means and methods are the route to success for contractors. When VIC'S was offered the opportunity to take part in developing a new method of Heat Recovery Steam Generator (HRSG) erection at the Xcel Energy High Bridge Power Plant we took this opportunity to utilize existing tools to create a new solution.

Over the course of two weekends in May, VIC'S completed moving two - 1,050 ton assembled HRSG Super Modules onto their respective anchor bolts. In eleven consecutive working days VIC'S jacked up the two - 1,050 ton Super Modules from the erection locations, placed the Super Modules on a four track slide system, slid each into the building a distance of 120' and jacked each Super Module down onto its' anchor bolts.

Typical construction phasing would have the building steel going up after the HRSG erection is complete or have the building partially complete and erect the HRSG in place with all piping and instrumentation under roof. The inherent challenges that come with these methods are: unproductive use of manpower due to extensive number of men working in a small area, cranes working under building steel on pipe racks and instrumentation and an extended project schedule.

When LG Constructors started developing the plan to erect the HRSG outside the building there were many advantages:

• Building steel was able to be completed prior to HSRG erection other than two bays of sheeting
• Parallel work activities on HRSG and pipe racks
• Condensed project schedule
• A larger work site for the crews to be spread out and reduce manpower. Similar projects peak at 600 to 700 men on-site; this project will peak at 450 men.

VIC'S is proud to be part of the Xcel Energy High Bridge Combined Cycle Project and a cooperative support contractor to LG Constructors. VIC'S has been serving heavy industry in the upper Midwest for over 50 years with crane service, engineered heavy lifts, and specialty transportation.

Bridge out...for a ride in Kansas City!

Two 1892 steel-truss railroad bridge sections were carefully moved 27 blocks through downtown Kansas City from a lot in the River Market to the Freight House District. The bridges are 100' and 142' long, 18' wide and 35' high loaded. They weigh 160,000 lbs. and 115,000 lbs.

There were three turns to negotiate on the route, two of which were very tight. The real challenge came when our route crossed a median and planting area between a roof overhang, a power pole and a concrete street light base. With literally inches to spare, the first and smallest section had to be backed up, realigned then slid sideways hydraulically to negotiate the obstacles. To cheers from the crowd gathered at the end of the route, the 140' load was slowly pulled through the obstacle course with no problems.

The rusty, 114 year old structures will be spruced up and erected over the Kansas City Terminal Railway tracks to provide a novel pedestrian link between Union Station and the Crossroads district. The project will cost almost $5 million.

812 ton bridge rolled into position-90 minutes

Aberdeen, South Dakota has a new four lane bridge. New Hwy 281 on the west end of Aberdeen has to pass over a railroad switch yard. In order to avoid railroad delays and yard shutdown, the 812 ton bridge was totally constructed on the new highway bed north of the area it was to span.. VIC'S provided the expertise and equipment to roll the bridge across the railroad yard (a total of 300') and set it down on its concrete abutments.

Support towers were constructed on our Goldhofer platform transporters to support the south end of the bridge at 23' above grade. The north end rested on roller dollies that were guided along track beams as the bridge was pulled into position by a winch.

The transporters are self leveling and can be hydraulically raised and lowered a total of 22". This made it possible to maintain the less than 2" difference in elevation required between the two support towers.

The bridge traveled over a temporary road of crushed rock and wooden mats built to cover the railroad tracks. Total moving time was 90 minutes.

Hydraulic Gantries - transporting equipment from railcar to anchor bolts

VIC'S Crane and Heavy Haul, Inc. has completed a project for Xcel Energy at the Black Dog Plant in Burnsville, Minnesota. The project involved moving a 535,000# generator and a 430,000# turbine from an on-site rail siding into the plant. We used our 500 ton capacity gantry system to offload the turbine and generator from railcars and set them on our Goldhofer platform transporters.

The challenge was to roll the units over a concrete mezzanine of questionable bearing and into the building on the second floor. To accomplish this, we set up two sets of beams. The first stage of beams elevated the gantry system to 7'-2" and the second stage of beams were set at 15'-1" to span the mezzanine and second floor between bearing points. The lower beams enabled us to hoist using gantries and roll the gantries with the load, setting the load over and on the second stage of beams. The turbine or generator was then lowered onto a framework on rollers and rolled on the beams into the building and over the anchor bolts.

We are very proud of our crew and we wish to thank Steve and John for their professionalism and tireless efforts. We also thank them and their crew for a safe and incident-free job.

Spanning the Mighty Mississippi

With the help of our P&H 5250 250-ton crawler cran and two barges, general contractor Edward Kramer & Sons, Inc. of Burnsville, MN and steel erection contractor High Five Erectors, Inc. of Shakopee, MN were able to once again span the mighty Mississippi River.

The 1,400-foot-long bridge spans from the north abutment to the south abutment, with five intermediate piers, and is made up of nine lines of steel girders, with each line consisting of thirteen individual girders. The two largest sections of steel girders (16' deep, 145' wide, weighing 65 tons each) as well as the balance of steel girders, were erected on time, and, even better, with no difficulties.

Oversized load through downtown

Steam locomotive 2153 is a 4-6-2 'Pacific' built in 1909 to pull Northern Pacific's premier passenger train, the North Coast Limited. Retired in 1956 when the railroad switched to diesel locomotives, 2153 was donated to the city of Grand Forks. The Minnesota Transportation Museum acquired the locomotive and hired VIC'S to relocate it to the Jackson Street Roundhouse in St. Paul where Northern Pacific 2153 will be fully restored to working condition.

The huge, 100-ton locomotive was stripped down to 160,000 pounds for the trip to St. Paul