Over Spring 2021, I was thrilled to complete a Heavy Civil Engineering Internship at Traylor Bros. Inc. I worked on the Regional Connector Project for the LA Metro. This billion dollar project involved using a tunnel boring machine to create an underground train line to provide a seamless ride across Los Angeles. I assisted in the construction of the Historic Broadway Station.
Leaving the cornfields of rural Iowa and Illinois for the bustling city of Los Angeles was both exciting and nerve-wracking! One unforgettable moment was when I mistakenly instructed a construction crew to tear down a portion of a wall to locate a missing grout box, only to discover it wasn’t there 😬. Despite such hiccups, I gained invaluable experience in large-scale project management. Our team managed all operations for the entire site, coordinating nearly 100 construction workers every day. I produced as-builts for the site’s grout sealing boxes, managed a 7-figure concrete masonry unit subcontractor’s daily operation, produced build staging plans for the sites multi-level air ventilation system, and documented daily construction updates delivered directly to project leadership.
Working on the Historic Broadway station at 2nd and Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles was an incredible experience. One particularly challenging task involved pouring a concrete air vent path at a 45-degree angle. As the concrete started to pour, we quickly realized that buoyant forces hadn’t been considered in the form design. The forms floated and broke in several places, causing a massive concrete leak. This taught me a lot about quick thinking and problem-solving in a fast-paced environment.
Overall, this internship was a significant learning experience that provided me with valuable insights into the heavy civil industry and its operational practices. It was a wild ride, but one that I wouldn’t trade for anything!
