Bruce & Merrilees is part of a design-build project to install a new fiber optic network along 100 miles of the Pennsylvania turnpike's western half. B&M's Engineering team was inside a 1/2-mile bridge along the Turnpike, scanning the interior chambers below the deck. Our surveyor used a 3D laser scanner to map out the conduit route for fiber optic cable that will be routed through the bridge. Rocky soil and steep terrain presented some unexpected challenges for the Transportation team as they were laying 100 miles of fiber-optic cable. The soil in one section of the mainline Turnpike (I-376) was too rocky for traditional plow/trench conduit installation methods. Instead, it took a small army of earth-moving equipment to dig through rocky soil in the median.

Excavators were also needed to dig a trench on a steep hillside along PA-66. The conduit buried there connects the Turnpike's Greensburg maintenance facility with the new FO network. Installing 100 miles of fiber-optic cable required specific tools and equipment. Our team used cable jet blowing machines along Route 66 in Westmoreland County, PA. Cable jetting uses compressed air and a pushing force to "blow" cable through a duct, as opposed to the traditional method of pulling cable. Cable jetting reduces the potential damages that come from pulling fiber-optic cable, especially over long distances. Our crews then installed rigid conduit for bridge crossings and plowing for miles.