To help alleviate this problem, cable is pulled from both ends of a tunnel and spliced in the middle. When cable pullers can't maneuver around a corner, they make another splice to join two pieces of cable coming from different directions. The weather could pose other challenges. If temperatures drop below freezing, the cable could freeze on the reels. In some ways, pulling cable through the duct banks will be easier.
Workers attach the cable to a rope already threaded through each conduit in the duct banks.
After greasing the end of the cable, they pull. The biggest challenge as they pull is the distance they have to cover. Cable may have to be pulled through a duct bank as long as 1500 ft. If the cable gets caught somewhere in the middle, cable pullers have to pull the cable back out and try again. Cable pullers never know exactly what challenges they will encounter as they pull cable through the tunnels and duct banks.