Bigge Crane and Rigging recently provided equipment to help complete the BART, Bay Area Rapid Transit, Oakland Airport Connector, a 3.2-mile route connecting the Coliseum station and Oakland Airport. The project, which was conceived in the 1970’s, finally connects BART trains to Oakland International Airport. Bigge worked on the above-ground section of the route, lifting the track sections and fixing them to the concrete towers lining Hegenberger Road.
Bigge operated a Grove GMK6350 with 124 feet of boom and 220,400 pounds of counterweight to lift the track trestles into place on the concrete towers. Each trestle section weighed 130,000 pounds and was nearly the length of a football field. The trestle sections were brought in on a trailer Bigge operated and were lifted, rotated, and set on the concrete columns along the route. In addition, Bigge operated a Link-Belt HC86100 that was used to assist with other facets of the project.
BART is a popular public transportation train system, not unlike New York City’s subway, that runs to San Francisco International Airport, and all over San Francisco and the East Bay. Prior to the track running to the Oakland airport, fliers attempting to take BART to Oakland International would have to board a bus at the nearest BART station, sometimes taking up to 30 minutes to arrive at the airport. The BART Connector Project is one part of a $350 million dollar makeover of Oakland International. It is expected to start operating in Spring of 2014.
“With Bigge’s history of involvement in almost every major civil infrastructure project in the East Bay, we were honored to work on this project so close to our centennial anniversary,” said Joe Nelms, vice president of sales and marketing.
Bigge’s crane rental fleet has more than 500 machines, available for both bare lease and operated and maintained rentals.
