quasify

From the most recent DFCI “Inside the Institute“. Of interest to me primarily as in it relates to my sweet baby cranes but also for it’s bizarre choice of dirt to elephant ratio.

Q: Where is the “dirt” from the Yawkey Center for Cancer Care site going?

A: Workers from Walsh Brothers construction will need to remove roughly 136,000 tons (the equivalent of 34,000 adult elephants) of soil and clay to reach to the bottom of the site, where an underground garage will sit. As of last month, about 96,000 tons had been sent off for reuse elsewhere in the state.

About half of the dug-up material has helped line a landfill in Taunton, while some 4,800 tons went to a Boxford farm to help contour its fields. Another 16,000 tons is being used by Blue Hill Cemetery in Braintree to fill low-lying areas. Any dirt affected by underground fuel storage tanks has been removed for proper processing.

If you’re wondering about the digging itself, a set of excavators scoops and piles the clay onto one side of the construction hole. Then a larger excavator at street level loads it onto trucks. When this machine can no longer reach the stockpile, workers will use a clam bucket and crane to hoist the clay from the foundation’s bottom.