News

The Three Corners Project in Benton Maine is progressing well and on schedule. The concrete work for the foundations and pads has been completed by the skilled and hard­ working team. They have ensured the quality and safety of the structures and prepared the site for the next phase which will include erecting steel and installing equipment. The Reed & Reed electrical crew has done an excellent job of installing all the underground conduit, cable trench and grounding system. The substation construction is planned to wrap up at the end of the summer.

Also in our contract is a 5.5 mile 115kv transmission line connecting the new substation to the CMP Albion Road substation. Clearing is complete, pole structures, anchors, framing and conductor work is underway and set for an August completion date.
We are pleased to complete another successful project for our valued client Longroad Energy.

Reed & Reed is in the final stages of the new Mattawamkeag Bridge on US Rt.2 in Mattawamkeag, Maine for the Maine Department of Transportation. The new bridge opened to traffic on September 15, 2022 after having been detoured via a temporary detour bridge adjacent to the new structure since May 2021. The project involved installation of the detour bridge, demolition of the existing concrete bridge structure, pile supported concrete abutments, installation of two new concrete river piers on bedrock, structural steel erection, construction of the new concrete bridge deck, and associated approach work. Construction began in January 2021 and will complete well ahead of the contract completion date of December 2023.

The detour is now open and traffic is flowing smoothly. Demolition is underway on the existing bridge in preparation for construction of the new 4-span structure which will follow the same alignment as the existing bridge.

In the roadway between the Station 46 bridge and the Pleasant Cove crossing our subcontractor Keller has been installing 2,422 wick drains. Because the underlying soils below the road are soft and wet, the wick drains are installed to bedrock on a regular pattern. When they are finished, we will install about 6 feet of gravel on top and that will sit for about one year. During that time, the wick drains will ‘wick’ water out of the underlying soils and it will drain out through the gravel layer. The added weight of the gravel surcharge accelerates the process.

The result will be the underlying soils will consolidate and strengthen and future road settlement will be minimized. Part of our work involves permanently raising the existing road several feet to prevent flooding. But this additional weight would likely cause new settlement, if not for the consolidation from the wick drains.

Following demolition, the next steps at the Station 46 bridge will be installation of cofferdams at abutments and the three piers to allow pile driving and concrete work.

The Reed & Reed-Bechtel Joint Venture team recently completed work on two major wind projects in the mountains of West Virginia. The Pinnacle Wind project included removing 23 existing MHI wind turbines, modifying the concrete foundations and installing 23 new 2.4 mw Siemens-Gamesa turbines on 82 meter towers.
Just 7 miles down the same ridgeline, the JV was EPC contractor for the 23 turbine Black Rock Wind project. Work there included design, procurement and installation of roads, turbine foundations, turbine erection, collector system and the project substation. The 4.8 mw SGRE WTGs were erected by JV crews on 107.5-meter towers.
The combined contract value of the projects was just over $100 million and work was completed successfully.
These two projects are the first wind projects completed by the Bechtel-Reed JV team, which is currently pursuing additional projects outside of the New England region.

After a winter shutdown, work has resumed on Reed & Reed’s RoxWind project in Oxford County, Maine. Last fall crews began sitework and completed foundations. This spring work has begun in earnest on the collector system and utility interconnect. Wind turbines are slated for arrival in late May when Reed & Reed crews will erect the four GE 3.85 mw turbines with 450-foot diameter rotors on 267-foot towers. Each blade is more than 220 feet long and weighs just over 40,000 lbs.
On the ridge just to the north one can see the 22 turbine Record Hill Wind Project built by Reed & Reed in 2010-11. And about 15 miles to the east the towers at Saddleback Wind and Canton Wind are visible, all built by our skilled and experienced crews.
Commercial operation at RoxWind is scheduled for September.

NEW WIND FARM TO INCREASE WEST VIRGINIA’S WIND POWER BY NEARLY 15% Bechtel and Reed & Reed joint venture selected to deliver new Black Rock Wind Farm

RESTON, Virginia, January 2021 — Clean, renewable energy for West Virginia residents surged forward today when Clearway Energy Group selected the Bechtel-Reed & Reed Joint Venture, to build its Black Rock wind farm in Grant County and Mineral counties. The new wind farm represents a nearly 15% increase in the state’s wind power and will produce enough green energy to power 34,000 homes.

“We’re excited to partner with Bechtel and Reed & Reed and look forward to potential that their combined resources can bring to this critical project,” said Chris Fox, Vice President of Construction at Clearway Energy Group. “This represents Clearway’s second renewable project in West Virginia, and provides a great opportunity for us to add construction jobs and permanent positions to our existing workforce in the state. Black Rock represents an important and growing sector of West Virginia’s economy and we are proud to help drive that growth.”

The Bechtel-Reed & Reed team, will engineer, procure, and construct the farm. The project will include twenty-three Siemens-Gamesa SG 5.0-145 wind turbines on 107.5-meter tall towers, producing 115 MW of electricity at the point interconnection to the First Energy electrical grid.

“The Black Rock Wind Farm is a significant contribution to renewable wind production in the region, and we are delighted to have Reed & Reed as partners and we are eager to join Clearway Energy Group on their path to deliver clean energy for future generations,” said Kelvin Sims, Bechtel’s Infrastructure general manager, Americas. “Our customers are setting ambitious targets to decarbonize energy systems, and we’re excited to support them in their journey to net-zero.”

“Our partnership with Bechtel combines two leading companies in the new world economy of renewable energy. All of us at Reed & Reed are pleased to begin work on this project with our partners from Bechtel. It’s a chance to demonstrate our expertise and experience in wind projects in a new region. We are especially pleased to have been selected by Clearway to build such an important project,” said Jackson Parker, CEO of Reed & Reed, Inc.

The project will create around 200 jobs in the area during construction, with several permanent jobs when operational. Once the wind farm is active, currently scheduled for late 2021, it will save 298,500 metric tons of CO2 emissions.

About Bechtel:
Bechtel is a trusted engineering, construction and project management partner to industry and government. Differentiated by the quality of our people and our relentless drive to deliver the most successful outcomes, we align our capabilities to our customers’ objectives to create a lasting positive impact. Since 1898, we have helped customers complete more than 25,000 projects in 160 countries on all seven continents that have created jobs, grown economies, improved the resiliency of the world’s infrastructure, increased access to energy, resources, and vital services, and made the world a safer, cleaner place.
Bechtel serves the Infrastructure; Nuclear, Security & Environmental; Oil, Gas & Chemicals; and Mining & Metals markets. Our services span from initial planning and investment, through start-up and operations. www.bechtel.com

About Reed & Reed:

Founded in 1928 by Captain Josiah W. Reed and his son Carlton Day Reed, Reed & Reed has a long history of successful public & private construction projects throughout New England. Headquartered in Woolwich, Maine, Reed & Reed performs a wide range of construction services for both public and private clients. From complex cable-stayed bridges to industrial facilities, marine terminals to wind farms, commercial and institutional buildings to pile driving, parking garages to environmental remediation, Reed & Reed has a track record of superior performance. www.reed-reed.com