Railroad Construction Company, Inc. has been contracted by PSE&G to perform  foundation work for their Southern Reinforcing Project. This project will add two new 230kV overhead transmission circuits and three new 230kV underground circuits in South Jersey. The upgrade will deliver increased electric capacity to New Jersey businesses and residents, increase transfer capabilities, provide better power quality and reduce transmission system congestion.

The foundation locations stretch across 3.5 miles of Conrail track. In order to gain access to these locations, stone access roads and “lay down” areas will be constructed.

 We will be constructing sixty-one foundations for the new overhead transmission towers. This will require the installation of approximately sixty-two 12” diameter helical piles extending 36’ into the ground.  Each foundation has anywhere from nine to twenty-three piles depending on the transmission pole design. The helical piles will be supplied by a sole source vendor that has worked with PSE&G from the design phase of the project. These piles will be driven using a drive head attached to a 55 ton excavator. In order to meet the scheduling deadlines, we will have two pile driving crews working simultaneously.

We are currently working with PSE&G’s team to redesign the proposed steel pile caps and replace them with concrete caps which will be formed and poured atop the helical pile clusters.  This redesign is nearing completion and once done, the four month construction schedule will begin. Railroad Construction is working with PSE&G, Burns & McDonnell and Kenny Construction on this project.  We thank Eileen Spanicciati and Patrick Reed of PSE&G, Wally Tun and Michael De Lucia of Burns & McDonnell and Jeremy Lewis and John Cataldo of Kenny Construction for their help.