2025 – What Comes Down Must Go Up…………WAY Up! (Part 1)
You remember that Federal Credit Union Bank on the corner of Main St and Passaic St that they tore down last year, right? The one I shot from home and on-site?
It looked like this when they finished up last June:
Well, that whole lot – from Main to State St – has sat vacant until recently. How recently? I took these two PANO shots on February 3:
Still totally vacant.
On March 17, I saw some people and their cars on the lot:
The next day, I saw the first piece of equipment:
On March 19, stuff was happening:
Here we go! (Is that a hole-driller?)
Click to enlarge this dirt auger (I don’t know what else to call it):
Ground-level shots were not yet useful:
After holes were drilled, little pink flags were inserted (markers?):
Interesting juxtapositioning:
Back to ground level for a quickie or two:
Video tribute to dirt augers:
(I’m sure that’s not their name, so who will be the first to post a correction with the video?)
Actually, here’s the word from Chris, the project manager:
“That large auger is for predrilling holes up to 20’ deep. It’s just an attachment for an excavator.”
While you’re here, Chris, can you tell me about the purpose of the much-taller unit seen here behind the auger?
“Sure – the vibration rig is owned by Menard. They are a globally recognized firm specializing in soil compaction/ ground improvement. By improving the soils density, we can then pour foundations without risk of the sandy Hackensack mix settling.”
These are 3 photos of the rocks being poured into that rig to make the ground better able to support what’ll be built on it:
But I’m always going to stick in dirt auger shots when I can:
The tops of both machines:
And the ground-level side view:
After the top pic grabs a shovelful of rocks (not shown), it dumps them into the vibration rig:
Rinse and repeat:
Vibration rig at work (from home):
Vid21
Border Patrol?
My other shooting location (big window in back):
Eight little pink flags and a stick:
A big Tanis cement mixer backs in to get hooked up to a cement pumper:
A second cement mixer awaits its turn on State St:
The on-site mixer is not yet hooked up to the pumper. Meanwhile, a third mixer gets in line on State St:
The on-site mixer’s connection to the pumper – its rear chute – is now attached and ready to relay cement to the pumper, but now there are FOUR mixers in view: two on-site, one on State St and one on Main St, about to make a right onto Passaic St, where the mixer entrance is:
There’s no on-site room for it right now, so this mixer is told to go around to the waiting line:
And so it sits………….
Time for me to do some ground-level work.
Instead of approaching it from the view I’ve been showing, I went around the other end to approach the unseen area from Main St.
Mind you, there’s a wraparound chain-line fence beginning from the last Main St business. It’s possible to shoot through a fence link, but most are too high to be framed-through properly.
Then there are the low smiley-face openings that are fairly useless, but the best shots come from the unintentional spaces between the fence-covering sections.
This first one was held high over the top of the fence. I couldn’t really see what I was shooting, but a little creative cropping made it look like I could:
I can’t see any of this from home, so these views are all new to me. You can see the wall of the Main St business next door on the right:
Slowly, I inch my way down Main St………..
You can see the cement pumper hose coming down in the top middle:
This one shows the mixer truck(s) and the ground part of the pumper:
Getting closer to Passaic St:
At the Main & Passaic corner:
Finally, I can turn a bit to the north and see the beautiful church steeple on my block, my building (looking at this picture, it seems amazing that I can shoot anything that’s this far away with my little pocket Canon), two cement mixers feeding the big cement pumper and where that cement is being pumped to (somewhere I can’t see from home):
(By the way, I’m shooting all these perimeter pictures with my iPhone)
And then I get to the wide-open entrance where the cement mixers and pumper enter and exit. Time for a panoramic shot of the entire scene (while being careful to stay on the public sidewalk):
In my opinion, this is what the iPhone camera was made for – these wonderful PANO shots……………they’re so complete and so clear! (Click this one twice to fully enlarge.)
Lastly, I made the next right onto State St, where I met Chris, the project manager. We’ve only spoken once, but he was a big help to me and I invite him to comment on anything he sees here or if he feels my layman’s information is incomplete or incorrect (Chris: stick to email if I’m really off!).
He was locking up the gate, but I asked him if I could step inside to get a shot of this excavator sitting majestically on this large pile of dirt.
“Sure”
The excavator dwarfed the much bigger distant cement pumper…………click!
Right now I’m at least 2 weeks behind, so have patience. I WILL get these out………….hopefully by Christmas. 😉
We met this noon with Chris. I was nice approaching you on the sidewalk. Not bowing needed 😊
You are doing a great job from your perspective blogging the project.
I can assist you with a profession explanation if you have a question.
Have a great day.
Willie