They don't wear suits and wingtips and sit behind a desk. The pair's assignment in this 13.7-mile rail project, however, appears oddly anachronistic amid 21st century technology and construction methods. Ropes and pulleys, short-handled shovels, wood planks and nails seem like tools of the 19th century, but they figure prominently in the task of structurally reinforcing several Old Pasadena buildings alongside the future Blue Line railroad tracks. Schnabel Foundation Co. In shaft construction, one worker stays at the surface and the other descends into the hole wearing a safety harness attached to a rope and pulley. The digger first loosens the soil with a pneumatic jackhammer and then shovels the dirt into a two-gallon bucket, which his partner raises to the surface on a cable.
Partners take turns working down in the hole and up at the surface, switching every four hours.
The concrete hardens to create an underground pier that serves as a vertical support to the building, bolstering its foundation. Hiney said as workers begin digging each shaft they can use mechanical equipment only for the first five feet. Then, to minimize vibrations, they must shift to the hand tools. As a safety precaution on the Blue Line project, high-tech sensors monitor ground and building movement to alert construction officials to any conditions that would endanger their crews, said Blue Line Construction Authority spokesman Nate Baguio. All the shafts are sealed up at night.