The San Francisco 49ers officially broke ground on their new stadium just over a month ago, and they are fast approaching the first construction milestone. On Monday at 11:00am, 48 trucks from Central Concrete Supply Company will deliver 12-yard loads of fluid grout every 10 to 15 minutes and the first of 3,000+ piles will be drilled to support the stadium, creating a deep, secure foundation.
Five powerful, high-torque drilling rigs and 50 workers from Berkel and Company Contractors will be drilling on average about 55 feet below ground for 25, 10-hour days to complete this project. It takes about 25 minutes to install each pile, and 120 will be installed each day. The concrete, which is actually fluid grout, is environmentally friendly and uses less CO2 than traditional concrete.
In addition to drilling piles, workers have been installing 30 miles of underground utilities, cabling and pipes.
If you get bored during the day, you can bookmark a live view of the construction site. I'm taking pictures of the site each day, and the plan is to turn it into a time lapse video showing the construction of the stadium in two years. We'll see how it works out, but it could turn out pretty cool.