Tobyhanna Army Depot | Radar Test Range
Radar Test Range
Tobyhanna, PA
Owner
United States Army Corps of Engineers
Washington, DC
Design Professional
Ewing Cole
Philadelphia, PA
PROJECT
Tobyhanna Army Depot, the largest, full-service electronics maintenance facility in the United States Department of Defense, called upon L.R. Costanzo Co., Inc. to renovate an existing warehouse facility to house its radar test range equipment and install a 330’ high radar test tower and 77’ diameter radome.
CHALLENGES
- Installing foundations, roadways, structures and utilities in an area deemed “high hazard” due to the potential of “unexploded ordinances” being present in this former artillery test range.
- Abating hazardous materials inside the warehouse.
- Maintaining steam heat throughout the renovated area and interconnecting buildings during the heating season.
- Dealing with an excessively high water table where the foundations for the tower were being installed.
SOLUTIONS
- Hired a metal detection/mine sweeping company to carefully screen layer upon layer of earth throughout the project’s excavations. All work and material handling was done strictly within clearly-defined clearance limits.
- Employed an environmental hazards removal contractor, utilized third party testing, erected proper isolation barriers and re-sequenced construction activities (post-abatement) throughout project.
- Created a by-pass line for the heating system after temporarily shutting down the building and isolatin. Work was performed on weekends and off-hours.
- Conducted additional excavations, diverted ground water, made modifications to foundation design, structural fill and drainage.
CONSTRUCTION DETAILS
- Installed a five ton, rolling, bridge crane.
- Formed, placed and finished over 47,000 square feet of concrete in the pad surrounding the radome.
- Installed mortar based epoxy flooring system on the warehouse floor.
- Sent a team to a radome site in Virginia as part of the pre construction survey.