Shelley Serres on the Challenge of Building Large Infrastructure
Building major water infrastructure requires far more than installing pipe. Shelley Serres, Program Manager, discusses the complexity of constructing large-diameter transmission lines through an already developed community.
Transcript
Transcript edited for clarity and readability.
Anybody can design a small-diameter water line, right? I mean, you put in an eight-inch line, and we do that all the time.
With a large-diameter water line, it takes up so much room, and it’s not just the pipeline, but the construction equipment to build that pipeline. They’re bigger. They’re heavier. You’re affecting traffic more, and the easements need to be bigger. Those holes are deeper.
You’ve got to get stuff out of your way, whether you relocate it or go super deep and go under it.
Tunnels are a big deal. We crossed every highway several times and every big creek in town.
On paper, it looks like no big deal. That building’s not that close. When you get out there, it’s that close.
And it’s all worked out. It really has.
