Welcome to the new CHS Worthing rail project update! The project started September 14, 2023. Since then, the majority of the work has been underground. Going forward, we will see more above-ground changes start to take shape. Exciting times ahead!
Current statistics:
We had an excellent month of weather, which supported both the harvest and allowed our project to progress at full speed. The team has completed much of the equipment installation in the basement, including all hoppers, conveyors, and below-ground leg trunking, along with the electrical wiring. It’s impressive to walk downstairs and see it all finished and lit up.
Work has continued up the sides of the structure, with the team installing leg trunking, the dust collection system, catwalks, and ladder systems. They also poured another 500 yards of concrete, covering the roofs of the six large grain silos and the star bins in between.
With over 40 dedicated team members working on every side of the structure, we’re steadily moving toward the goal of delivering a fully operational elevator. Stay tuned for more updates as we rapidly approach the day we can start receiving grain!
The team has been hard at work since completing the elevator slip pour on August 21. The slip form has been removed from the exterior, and they are now working on dismantling the pieces used during the pour. The team is transitioning to the installation of handrails and rebar in preparation for the roof pour.
While work continues at the top, another team is working below, installing equipment underground. To ensure the safety of our employees, all stair access points and platforms have been installed, providing safe entry without requiring confined space procedures. In the basement, the team is also installing legs and conveyors.
Additionally, another crew is assembling towers to be placed on top of the silos, adding 80 feet in height to the elevator. These towers will support our legs and grain screens above the structure.
One of our recent highlights is the completion of the scale room, just in time for harvest. Our new scale is operational, and with the added kiosk system, customers will be able to move through our facility efficiently and promptly!
It took us nearly six days to pour our new rail facility, but you can watch the facility rise from the ground in just 43 seconds with this time-lapse video. We are excited about what’s yet to come!
Monday, Aug. 19: The grain elevator is taking shape! We reached the halfway point after 72 hours of continuous pouring. The slip was 75 feet tall, with 65 feet to go.
Each evening, a fresh crew of about 100 members arrives on-site to continue the crucial work through the night. Atop the slip platform, it appears as if it’s daytime, with numerous lights illuminating the area to ensure quality and safety for our crew. From the ground, it looks like the team is working on a floating island, surrounded by complete darkness. Observers have compared the slip to a cruise ship, a castle, and even a UFO hovering above.
Tuesday, Aug. 20: The team reached 100 feet, with 40 feet to go! As one travels toward our facility from any direction, it’s evident our continued progress is certainly evolving the area skyline! All crew members have done a remarkable job keeping safety a priority as we move nearer to concluding this critical step in the construction of our new rail facility.
Nearly 200 jacks are stationed around the slip and are the key cog of the operation. These jacks engage every 3 minutes and then climb up the jack rods, which raise the entire slip. The jacks are either 2- or 3-ton capacity and support the form and crew atop. The team is continually adjusting the jack rods to ensure the entire slip remains level, along with adding 15-foot sections to each jack rod as it continues to climb.
You can see some of the jacks in one of the below photos, along with the “story board” attached to it. This “story board” keeps our team informed on installing doors, special rebar or other important inserts along with also allowing them to gauge their progress.
Wednesday, Aug. 21: It’s the last day of our milestone slip pour of our elevator! We are staying at the pace of 25 feet per day. We start today with 15 feet remaining on the 140-foot grain silos. Project should be wrapping up around 10:00pm tonight!
We are looking forward to turning the pump off and finishing up!
Thursday, Aug. 22: The skyline has changed! After 134.5 hours of continually pouring concrete, and the safe and steadfast efforts of several talented crew members, the grain silos’ summit height of 140 feet was achieved Wednesday night around 10:00 p.m. Over 5,000 yards of concrete and 1.1 million pounds of rebar were positioned since last Friday to complete this exciting and important stage in the construction of our new rail facility.
Thank you for the efforts of our general contractor Vigen Construction and our concrete supplier Van Zee Enterprises to get this off the ground, literally!
Our Worthing rail project has reached an exciting milestone—we’re on day 1 of our slip pour! Over the next 6-7 days, our team will pour over 5,000 yards of concrete and install more than 1.1 million pounds of rebar to shape the structure of our elevator. The team works two 12-hour shifts, with around 100 crew members per shift, and runs the process 24 hours a day. The slip is powered by nearly 200 jacks, moving every 3 to 4 minutes, lifting the structure 7/8” at a time. We aim to rise 24 feet per day. Stay tuned for daily updates throughout the process.
Don’t forget our open house next week, Monday through Wednesday, from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm at the Worthing Ag Center. Lunch will be served, and you can watch the skyline change. Please follow the signs for parking and look for the tent.
The team continues to press forward in preparing for the elevator slip. While construction plans can always change, we are currently scheduled to start the slip on August 16th. We are excited to announce an open house on August 19-21 from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm each day. The open house will feature a tour of the project, videos showcasing our progress, and of course, lunch! We’ll have the grill going, so stop by and watch the skyline change for the future.
The team has been focused on finishing the silo roof beams to prepare for the slip. The slip form yokes are in place, and they are working on setting up all the scaffolding needed to finish the concrete as it rises. It’s impressive to see the complexity of the system required to build a cement elevator of this size. The concrete distributors are in place, so as the concrete gets pumped to the top, it can be distributed and wheelbarrowed into place.
The receiving building is really taking shape. Most of the exterior work is complete, and we have started on the interior work. The receiving office is being insulated, and interior walls will go up later this week. The team has also made progress on finishing the scale deck for the new scale, ensuring it will be ready for this fall!
Welcome back to our Weekly Project Update! There have been many changes over the past couple of weeks. The team has been focused on the slip form, completing both the inner and outer sections. They have also installed the roof sections and are finishing them up to the edge of the slip form. Currently, the team is working on placing approximately 200 yokes, which will connect to 200 jacks in a few weeks to lift the slip form for our continuous pour that will run 24/7 for 6 to 7 days to build the elevator.
After the 4th of July, we welcomed an additional crew onsite. This new team has been working on the receiving building, which will house our two main grain dumps and the control room for the elevator. It’s exciting to see this part of the project taking shape.
The team has also been busy with concrete pours. They completed the dryer foundation and finished the truck approaches for our new inbound scale. Additionally, a new scale house has quickly been constructed near the new scale. We are excited to have this permanent building and additional scale ready for this fall’s harvest!
The lumber brigade continues at the Worthing project! The team has completed the inside portion of the slip form. With wall thickness ranging from 8” to 16”, the team has started moving the inside forms to begin work on the outside forms. As shown in the pictures, the slip form is constructed from 2×6 framing along with tongue and groove fencing to create a nice clean circle.
The dryer foundation and scale foundation have been poured, completing all the major foundations for our project. The dryer foundation will support our new 7500-bushel-per-hour dryer, allowing us to dry grain 24/7 if needed. The scale foundation will hold our new 120’ inbound scale, which, combined with our existing scale, will speed up truck traffic and help our customers get back to the field quicker.
The Federal Grade Inspection building was erected throughout the week. This building will be used to inspect and grade our shipments. Samples will be taken from our loadout to ensure we are shipping the best quality grain from our facility.
This week at the Worthing Ag Terminal Project, our theme was all about lumber! The team has started assembling the intricate slip form that will shape our future elevator. Over the next few weeks, this form will gradually rise from ground level to 140 feet in the air.
Last week, we also poured the truck approaches on both sides of the receiving building and laid the foundations for the inspection and scale buildings. Meanwhile, our electricians are busy connecting the electrical systems in the motor control room. It’s exciting to see the progress!
As everyone knows in our area, last week was incredibly wet, with our project receiving over 17 inches of rain. Despite the relentless downpour, our dedicated crew continued to make progress, working tirelessly rain or shine. During the rainy days, the team was busy behind the scenes stripping forms underneath the elevator mat in the tunnel and working in the woodshop, cutting pieces for the slip form. They even navigated through water to reach the project site.
The milestone for the week is the completion of the elevator mat. The final 500+ yards of concrete were poured, finishing the foundation for the silos. This achievement involved tying 340,000 pounds of rebar by hand and completing three large pours totaling over 1,650 yards of concrete. To put it in perspective, that’s enough concrete to pour over six miles of sidewalk. Our civil contractor demonstrated exceptional skill in managing the site’s water drainage. Thanks to the well-designed ground, all the water drained off the project site into our ditches, ensuring no damage despite the heavy rains. There was even some light-hearted discussion about potentially accepting barges through the new facility due to the depth of the water. Thankfully, the water has receded, and the project remains on track without any damage.
Our civil contractor demonstrated exceptional skill in managing the site’s water drainage. Thanks to the well-designed ground, all the water drained off the project site into our ditches, ensuring no damage despite the heavy rains. There was even some light-hearted discussion about potentially accepting barges through the new facility due to the depth of the water. Thankfully, the water has receded, and the project remains on track without any damage.
The primary highlights included increased use of rebar and concrete. This focus is essential for completing the elevator mat, which will allow us to progress towards slipping the silos. The team successfully poured an additional 500 yards of concrete, as illustrated in the accompanying photos, demonstrating significant progress on the elevator mat.
In addition to this major pour, the team completed several smaller pours, including the control room floor, which will house the controls for the elevator, and the footings for two of the fall protection towers. Once completed, we will have 600 feet of fall protection, ensuring the safety of our grain operations team when opening or closing railcar lids.
Our electricians have been diligently working in the motor control room, installing electrical panels that will supply power and control the elevator. Additionally, our local electric cooperative activated the electrical transformer, providing us with the necessary 4000-amp power required to operate the elevator efficiently.
This week was marked by substantial progress in both concrete and rebar work. Over 680 yards of concrete were poured within a seven-hour period, a notable achievement in our construction timeline. The process was impressive to observe, with significant changes unfolding throughout the day. Our team utilized multiple vibrators to ensure the concrete settled well between the rebar, complemented by a large super screed to achieve a level surface. The coordination required among team members for this extensive pour, covering approximately 40% of the elevator mat at a thickness of three feet, was exemplary.
Our rail contractors were also onsite to reassemble the rail system, which had been temporarily out of service due to the installation of tunnels and conveyors beneath. This reassembly is a crucial step towards future train loading operations.
Additionally, plumbing installations were completed for the onsite bathroom, and efforts are underway to connect water to the elevator. These seemingly small but essential steps are preparing us for the construction of the control room building.
This week also saw a peak in workforce presence, with 55 employees onsite, including our general contractor, rail contractor, electrical contractor, plumbers, and electric cooperative. It is impressive to witness the dedicated efforts of everyone involved, each contributing to the successful construction of the elevator.
After 8.5 miles of drilling and 3500 yards of concrete in over 450+, the auger cast piles or deep foundation is complete. This is a huge milestone for the project.
The team is now focused on the elevator mat. As mentioned before the heavy lifting continues with putting in rebar for the elevator mat. The team has worked hard over the last week placing and tying rebar by hand. You can see in the picture how much rebar is being installed. They are working from south to north to start pouring the elevator mat in the next week.
The MCC room continues to take shape and is close to being wrapped up for the next phase. The steel roof and walls are being installed.
The new inbound scale dirt work is complete and ready for the forms and foundation to get the new scale placed and ready to be in service for this fall.
We’ve had some exciting developments over the past week! Our first above-ground structure, the Motor Control Room (MCC room), is now taking shape. Additionally, we’ve placed a transformer right next to the MCC room, which will soon be connected by our local power cooperative.
Concrete has been poured for the west and east rail approaches, allowing our rail contractor to return and put our track back in service. The concrete under the rail will help keep things tidy and clean after loading trains.
We’re down to about three working days left on our deep foundation work. With 93% of the deep foundation completed, over 3,300 yards of concrete have been poured into 417 of the 451 auger cast piles that will support the elevator. Once this is finished, the team will focus on installing 400,000 pounds of rebar into the Elevator Mat. This mat will evenly distribute the weight of the elevator across the deep foundation piles. The Elevator Mat will be a three-foot-thick concrete slab, requiring nearly 2,000 yards of concrete or 250 cement trucks.
The foundation for the control room building, which will connect to the receiving building, is also being prepared. Once this is poured, we can proceed with erecting the control room and receiving building.
We had two big concrete pours last week. They poured the south receiving floor, where trucks will drive to dump grain. They also poured the north rail and truck pit. The concrete foundation pad for the 4,000 amp transformer that will supply power for the project is ready for the local power company to install. Silo roofs are being put together and two are complete and staged for installation.
The existing scale has been taken down for preparation of the foundation that the new scale building will sit on. Digging has begun for the new inbound scale footings.
