Home : Challenging And Record-Setting Projects :Security & Logistical Challenges
Afgan Ring RoadWhen you're given the task to build a road from Kandahar to Kabul in Afghanistan, you expect to encounter a few problems along the way. Some of the problems proved staggering, even for a giant consulting firm like Louis Berger Group of Washington D.C. Working under the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Berger took on the crucial roadbuilding job January 10, 2003. The contract called for completion by the end of the year of a two-lane highway 23 ft. wide with unpaved shoulders. An additional series of contracts outlined the construction of a road from Kandahar to Herat. When finished these two projects would complete 646 mi. of the total "ring road" and connect this Texas-sized country's major cities with a reliable asphalt road. The third section of the "ring road," from Herat to Kabul is being funded and constructed by other international groups. When Berger's engineers studied the Kandahar to Kabul piece of the project, they saw a daunting task. They observed that after 40 years of war and neglect, the road was a mess, with only approximately 30 mi. of it driveable. The condition of the road meant that a 250-mi. trip between these two major cities would take 19 hours over two days (night travel was not recommended). By the time the project was completed, travel time between the two cities was reduced to under six hours. The obstacles to the project were immense. For example, Afghanistan had no liquid asphalt, reliable aggregate supplies, paving equipment, or paving contractors. And before the project could even begin, some 1,000 unexploded mines and other ordnance had to be removed from the area surrounding the road. The Louis Berger team had pre-qualified and selected experienced contractors, three from Turkey and one from India. Each contractor was assigned a 52-mi. segment of road to rebuild. Since there was no paving equipment in the country, and the 207 day time constraint for the first layer of asphalt paving existed, Berger had to spend $7 million to airlift the equipment to the paving sites. Overland transport from Turkey and India would have taken nearly 25 days and the completion date could not have been achieved. The team conducted a broad search for asphalt before finally locating suppliers in India and Egypt who shipped most of the asphalt into the country in barrels. With equipment and suppliers lined up, the contractors still needed workers. Since 40 years had passed since any major road-building activities had taken place, there were virtually no experienced highway workers. So each of the contractors brought in approximately 100 of their own workers, then trained from 100 to 150 local Afghans to work on the road project. Despite the complexities of working with government entities from two nations (United States and Afghanistan), security and de-mining providers, and five international subcontractors, the paving team was able to complete the grading, subgrade and one layer of asphalt treated base (ATB) from Kandahar to Kabul by December 15, 2003. Most of the project was completed in just under four months. The final 30 mi. at the Kandahar end of the road was funded by the Japanese government. The international paving contractors constructed a road composed of two layers ATB totaling 250 mm, including a 38 mm binder course and a 25 mm surface course. A Chemcrete modifier was used on the ATB, as was a polymer modified asphalt for the surface course. The polymer modified asphalt was used in the surface wear course on only 52 mi. of the Kabul to Kandahar road. It is being used in the surfacing of the entire Kandahar to Herat road. The asphalt was 60/70 penetration grade. The lack of in-country crushing equipment for making traditional aggregates forced Louis Berger Group to investigate creative alternatives. The company's engineers located river sites with material that was suitable for screening. One of the contractors had screening equipment in-country and it was retained to immediately produce materials for the project that would supply all four contractors until each of them could bring in its own crushing equipment. The contractor was able to screen materials from dry riverbeds and from quarries known to have aggregate available. This material consisted of angular, sub-angular, and rounded aggregates. This material was used in the first ATB layer and some of the second ATB layer. Approximately 900,000 tons of aggregate were produced using the equipment, enabling the team to meet paving project deadlines. In addition to the road-building work, the Berger team's contract required seven bridges to be reconstructed, 38 bridges to be repaired, and 1,900 culverts and causeways to be constructed, repaired or extended.
Problems in Afghanistan, of course, would not be limited to paving. A workers' camp at Durani was attacked by mortar fire and threatening letters were received from the Taliban. Berger worked with a security subcontractor, USPI, to provide an additional 1,000 troops for security. Afghanistan continues to be a dangerous place. By the summer of 2004 the two-lane road was essentially complete. Then Interim President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, spoke at a dedication of the road, December 15, 2003. The success of the project, prompted USAID to investigate similar road-building work for a Kandahar to Herat section of the ring road. The road was built in the 1960s and early 1970s by the former Soviet Union. This Portland cement concrete road was in deplorable condition. By October, 2004, three sections of the Kandahar to Herat road were under contract for reconstruction. The project, including rubblization of the old PCC road, is currently under way. The southern 143 mi. of the 346-mi. highway will be funded by the governments of Japan and Saudi Arabia with USAID funding the design and engineering services for the Saudi section. "Completing both the Kandahar to Kabul road and the Kandahar to Herat road will mark an important step forward in Afghanistan's future," said Kent Lande, Chief Engineer of LBG who saw numerous local businesses pop up along the newly-completed section of the road. "These new highways will provide jobs and bring new opportunities for business, commerce and health access. I believe the Ring Road will be a key link in the future transportation system across Central Asia."
Iraqi PipelinesSome 15 Iraq pipelines operated by the North Oil Company (NOC) cross the Tigris River south of Kirkuk and east of Baiji in the heart of the Sunni triangle. This pipeline corridor is in the vicinity of a railroad and auto bridge, both of which were partially destroyed by the Multi-National Force-Iraq (MNF-I) during the Iraq war, resulting in damage to several pipelines in that vicinity. The war has resulted in a substantial U.S. funded reconstruction of Iraq, most recently implemented by the Project Contracting Office (PCO) and administered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In 2005, the PCO awarded an "indefinite delivery” contract to Parsons Iraq Joint Venture (PIJV) primarily for reconstruction efforts in the northern part of Iraq. A number of these projects have focused on NOC facilities as well as product pipelines operated by other governmental entities. PIJV awarded a fixed price contract to A&L Underground Inc. for reconstruction of all 15 of the pipelines in a corridor at a location called Al Fatah, south of Kirkuk. The pipelines range from eight to 40 inches in diameter and include a 30- and 32-inch diameter line carrying products, including gas, oil and propane. All of the pipelines cross the fast-moving Tigris River. Due to extreme gravel and cobble present at the location, PCO elected to install the pipelines using the conventional cut-and-cover method. As an initial step, all of the pipe for the project was concrete coated on the east bank of the river with technical supervision provided by Allan Edwards Corporation of Tulsa, OK. Most significant of the installations was a 40-inch diameter crude oil pipeline, which was a .688, X-52 pipe with a six-inch concrete coating that resulted in a pull section weighing in excess of 1.3 million pounds. After coating, the section was placed on rollers to facilitate the pull with a 500,000-pound winch spooled with two-inch cable and placed on the west bank of the river. Randy Duncan, project manager for A&L’s work at Al Fatah, elected to excavate the river crossing using sectional or fl exifl oat barges and a Mitsubishi long-reach excavator. The excavator had 65 feet of reach and was used in nearly 20 feet of water that was moving at 1.5 meters per second. Spuds were used for added stability during excavation. Duncan said, "The 1.5 meters per second velocity of the river complicated the installation. It also required extreme caution and precise positioning of the barge. The crossing went well and included over 100 feet of solid rock which had to be hoe rammed before excavation. Once we had the ditch prepared, it took only seven days to install the nine open-cut pipe sections.” A&L also tied in six additional pipelines that had previously been installed by directional drills. Security and logistics proved to be the biggest issue on the job. Said A&L’s QA/QC Manager Kenny Green, "We had to purchase and mobilize all the equipment from the Middle East due to an expedited construction schedule necessitated by an anticipated high-water fl ow in the river during the month of December. Logistically, the project was a nightmare because there was no easy access to material or equipment and moving things around in Iraq is a real problem.” Also, because A&L employees were housed in a camp located on site, security issues proved the most signifi cant obstacle on the project. Over the course of the job, crews encountered numerous terrorist attacks before an improvised explosive device (IED) was used to blow up an oil pipeline on the east bank, temporarily shutting down the project’s east river bank construction front. Gen. George Casey, the MNF-I Chief of Iraq Operations, visited the site to review the security situation in light of the critical nature of the project to Iraq’s oil export plan. He ultimately decided to dispatch the 101st Airborne to the site to supply the security necessary for A&L to work safely on the site. "After the 101st showed up, virtually all of the security issues went away,” said Duncan. Coalition forces began giving Al Fatah more attention by having a greater military presence in the immediate area. "Through helicopter surveillance and regular troop visits to the surrounding area, security issues disappeared,” he said. An IED attack on an oil pipeline within the project limits resulted in a substantial slowdown in the work as the oil pipeline ignited two gas lines in the vicinity and resulted in a fire that burned for nearly a week. Two other major IED attacks against the site resulted in additional delays, with no loss of life. Numerous mortar and rocket attacks occurred between June and December 2005 which resulted in additional delays. PIJV and the Corps of Engineers had encouraged A&L to use as much local Iraqi labor as possible to enhance the local economy and improve craft labor skills related to pipeline construction. A number of the welders and operators on the project were Iraqi and a local concrete subcontractor provided civil support for the concrete-coating effort as well as two large concrete manifold vaults. The local Iraqi community was very positive toward construction and also toward the U.S. military effort. "To our surprise, we also found a substantial group of skilled laborers in the area. Once excavated, the river was over 1,200 feet wide and with the signifi cant water flow, it posed a formidable installation risk,” Duncan said. "I have never installed this many lines in a single river crossing let alone in a war zone, so under the circumstances I was very proud of how things came together.” Duncan said that as it turned out, the substantial amount of gravel worked in the crew’s favor. "Despite the river velocity, crews experienced very little siltation in the ditch during the installation. Because of the fl exi-fl oats and long-reach excavator, the backfi ll work also went well and we were able to just beat the bad weather,” he explained. A&L subcontracted the engineering to Universal Ensco’s Project Engineer Luke Duncan who provided preliminary survey and fi nal alignment drawings for the project. Numerous fi eld changes in routing were required to avoid the numerous existing pipelines and other design changes were required to facilitate immediate repair of pipelines damaged and destroyed by insurgents during construction. The site survey work was done in-house by A&L.
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