Mud Lake to Sabine 238kV Emergency Rebuild 

Owner

Entergy Services, LLC

Customer/Client

Entergy Services, LLC

Location

Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana

Period of Performance

September 2020-January 2021

DDI was chosen for this critical restoration project due to prior project performance of similar scope and nature. This was an emergency project to rebuild approximately 27,500 LF of a vital, high voltage transmission line destroyed by Hurricane Laura. Time was of the essence; meeting all schedules and deadlines was critical as this outage affected a significant portion of Southwest Louisiana and several large industrial customers. 

The scope of this project consisted of providing all labor, equipment, and materials to provide right-of-way access and support services for Entergy’s demolition, foundation, and transmission line contractors. This scope was particularly challenging given the entire project was in a highly sensitive freshwater marsh, with a portion only accessible by boat from the Intracoastal Waterway. 

The work our team provided included the supply, installation, maintenance, and removal of all timber matting and pipeline air-bridging. Despite the more than half a dozen underground pipelines inside the transmission line right-of-way for the entire length of the project requiring precise matting installation, DDI was able to install an average of almost 1,500 mats per day for the duration of the project, exceeding the project schedule by more than 25%. In addition, DDI provided tugboats, barges, and air boats to aid in transporting equipment, timber mats, and personnel over water to such structures. Additional work included the construction of a 4-acre stabilized aggregate staging location, maintenance, and restoration of 2.5 miles of aggregate access roadway, supply/delivery installation of all aggregate and sand required to maintain safe matting surfaces, and cleanup, site grading, and restoration of the site upon project completion. All expectations for safety, quality, and schedule were exceeded or met despite working in a multitude of hazardous working conditions including working around the clock, in congested work areas, with constricted travel ways and high volumes of traffic. 

Once again, our team was recognized for their high standards of performance on maintenance and restoration of pastureland, fence/gats, and ranch infrastructure. The landowner of the property where the work was performed has designated DDI as the only firm allowed to perform any/all future work of this kind moving forward. 

Accomplishments

Accomplishments

Zero recordable and/or lost time incidents 

All work on this project was 100% self-performed by Diamond D 

Metrics

35,700 ea.
8” x 4’ x 18’ timber access mats 

105 ea.
12” x 4’ x 30’ timber bridge mats 

425 tons
of lime stabilization 

11,644 sq. yards
of geogrid 19,000 tons of limestone aggregate