McDowell County Federal Correctional Institute

In nine short months, Independence Excavating has helped transform a once barren strip mine in little-known Welch, West Virginia into a bustling 300-acre construction site that will eventually be a federal correctional institute. As with many of our jobs, Independence took the lead, preparing the site for numerous other tradesmen to do their work.

The amount of work that has been completed here is a true testament to the quality of the workforce we have had on site. Although we had operators from three different halls including #18 Cleveland, #66 Erie, and #132 Beckley as well as laborers from three different halls including #310 Cleveland, #860 Cleveland, and #453 Beckley, we all worked as a team to make things happen! At peak operation we had fifty-two people on site to help achieve the following scope of work. We moved approximately 500,000 cy of cut-to-fill, 135,000 cy of undercut and replaced with geo-grid and aggregates, crushed 425,000 tons of various base materials, installed 75,000 feet of wet utilities, fine-graded 200 acres for pavement and other finish surfaces, and built a 35,000 cy earthen berm that will act as a backstop for the prison guards when they target practice. In the last month or so, we have also been asked to perform all of the remaining trenching for the underground mechanical and electrical. This will keep two crews busy through the winter so that when spring hits, we will be ready to complete our remaining fine grading.

This project could have never happened without the support of our shop. In an area that is logistically very difficult, our drivers made every move safely and quickly and our mechanics kept the iron moving with close coordination with the heavy shop. The support shop made sure that all of our small tools were in order and on the job when they were needed.

Independence Excavating would like to thank Clark Construction and The Federal Bureau of Prisons for the opportunity to work on this project. I’d also like to thank the Operators Local #132 and #453 of Beckley, West Virginia for providing their work force; it has been a pleasure. And thank you also goes to the group that traveled to Welch week in and week out, spending most of the summer away from home. The company appreciates your dedication.