fiber optics on vasco rd

[sandnsnow]

We just worked on a collage project and there was a contractor working on a building next to ours that ripped 3 4" fiber lines clear out of the ground. These belonged to the railroad and connected Seattle area to the rest of the world. They rerouted the info and the splicing crew showed up and was there for three weeks putting that mess back together. I will find out about how much that will cost them soon. We worked the same line and the railroad was there watching every scoop. Then ordered vac trucks for the close stuff.

 

[tylermckee]

Last time we had to cross FO the locate guy couldnt figure out where it was so he just marked out a 15 foot wide path and told us we had to hand dig yeah right, luckily for us they at least knew it was encased in concrete so we carefully found it, and guess where it was, just outside of his 15' wide area he marked. I'm with everyone else, if it is so important it they should at least be able to locate it.

 

[mitch504]

wish me luck guys..i start with a new company on monday!!

Why, cause you hit the "fiber optics on vasco rd."?:lmao
Just Kidding!

 

[geneb]

Last time we had to cross FO the locate guy couldnt figure out where it was so he just marked out a 15 foot wide path and told us we had to hand dig yeah right, luckily for us they at least knew it was encased in concrete so we carefully found it, and guess where it was, just outside of his 15' wide area he marked. I'm with everyone else, if it is so important it they should at least be able to locate it.

I agree. If our locators can't find it we will dig it up with your equip(or ours if you want to wait) show it to you and stay until the danger of cutting it is gone.

 

[John C.]

I was out on a machine repair job a bunch of years ago where they were putting in deep sewer pipe. There was an intersection of underground power, sewer, television cable and a trunk fiber line. I hadn't seen so many hard hats peering into a trench in my life.

What I had heard about the cost of the initial install on the fiber was the phone companies put every dollar they had into getting the cable in the ground that they went broke and were bought up by other companies. There was no government help and all the telecom companies jumped on the technology bandwagon so fast they didn't see the black hole underneath.

I do take the point though that I should never trust the people marking the lines. Since fiber has no metal in it, is there anyway to find it if not mapped or marked?

 

[tylermckee]

I do take the point though that I should never trust the people marking the lines. Since fiber has no metal in it, is there anyway to find it if not mapped or marked?

There is usually a tracer wire burried with the line that they hook their locater to, same as the gas companies do with their plastic lines.

 

[DGODGR]

I have exposed thousands of feet of it. It was after the last big earthquake (in LA) and when the I-5/I-14 interchange fell down (again) the main arttery between LA and Palmdale was severed (transportation wise). The railroad was bought up by Metrolink and had to be upgraded from freight to passenger train specifications(can't have very sharp turns so speeds can be higher). This required a lot of realignment of the curves. Most major fiber runs are along the RR ROW because it's the cheapest way to install. If you thought a big dozer cable plow had some power, take a look at a train mounted plow. The stuff I had to dig up was direct bury. Cable was about as thick as your pinky. It was nerve racking to say the least. That orange stuff in the phots is called inter duct. It is usually used to put multiple cables into existing duct work. I would have been very happy to have seen that over the fiber that I was digging up, as it can't bend as sharply as direct bury cable. Most of the propaganda about cost is just that. Phone companies have to reroute the data and they don't want to. They also want all there lines to be defect free. As far as locating goes, I can't see why there would be a problem. The insulator can be made with a metal sheild (used to give strength for pulling and varmint protection). The first time I saw fiber cable first hand was near the cement plant between California City and Tehachapi. Sprint called us out to dig up and lower a direct bury fiber cable that they thought was in danger from the county road crews during their normal bar ditch maintenance. Boy, they were right. At the location we were asked to dig the county had placed some temp. asphalt in the ditch (maybe to keep it from rutting?). I started excavating to remove the temp. (hand digging was to commence once we got to the bottom of the temp.) by just scratching a little bit at a time. We found the cable before the shovels even got dirty. I scratched the sheeth. No damage to the fiber, but the outer plastic (or vinyl or whatever it is) was peeled back a bit. You could see a metal sheild in the cable. If I remember it was a spiral wound copper colored sheild. Anyway, the sheild can be used for locating.