Muschlitz Preps Camelback`s Winter Waterpark

> Click here to return to the Construction Equipment Guide homepage.
This site can also be read in
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Search News and Equipment
Equipment
Like
News
Auctions
Wanted to Buy
Coming Events
Videos
Tw eet
Be the first of your friends to like this.
Customer Service
0
Share
Subscriptions
0
Muschlitz Preps Camelback's Winter Waterpark
Enjoy the twists and turns of the ski
slopes but not a fan of the cold
weather? Camelback Mountain, in
the Pocono Mountains' town of
Tannersville, Pa., may have an ideal
solution when a massive project -–
featuring an indoor waterpark, hotel
and lodge — wraps up in 2015. The
project will cost Camelback
approximately $160 million.
Two Muschlitz excavators help announce Camelback’s future
indoor waterpark and lodge.
Muschlitz Excavating has a $9
million chunk of the project,
handling the site preparation,
excavation and remediation.
“There are about 350,000 cu. yds. of earth to move here,” said Jack Muschlitz of Muschlitz Excavating,
based in Bath, Pa. “There are a lot of unsuitable soils here that we have to deal with. It is wet material
that was placed there in the past, but it wasn't compacted, so it needs to come out and be replaced
with on-site structural fill or imported crushed aggregate. We have areas here with 40-foot cuts [and]
40-foot fills. We also have two-to-one slopes here right next to an 'exceptional quality' stream, so soil
erosion control is a big concern here to protect the stream from pollution. We have rock blasting. We
anticipate about 75,000 yards of rock that will be blasted out of the ski-in and ski-out area of the
building. The heavy fills are in the lodge area of the building and rear parking lot.
Muschlitz's crew started on the job in September 2013 and though the project has an actual Dec. 13,
2013 deadline for Muschlitz to deliver the entire building pad, the company has a self-imposed
deadline of Nov.
13. 2013.
“We are ahead of schedule right now, because we
came in and attacked the project pretty hard from the
start,” he said. “We've had very favorable weather the
last few weeks. The guys are working hard and the
guys are working long days. Everyone is putting forth
a hell of an effort. They are doing a great job here.”
The crew, usually between 16 and 25 workers a day
depending on the day's tasks, operates both Komatsu
and Caterpillar equipment, including Komatsu PC400
Daily Headlines
NCCHR Transforms
More Than Atlanta’s
Skyline
Savannah’s Truman
Parkway on Track to
Open in March
LA Workers Break
Record for Largest
Concrete Pour
Is OSHA's New Silica
Law Flawed?
Advanced Rental Forms
Beneficial Alliance
With Yancey, Cat
Bobcat Tier IV 5600,
5610 Toolcat Utility
Work Machines
Integrate New Traction
Control System
Thompson Machinery
Holds Groundbreaking
Ceremony
Find us on Google+
and PC300 loading trucks, 40 and 35 ton (36 and 31 t) off road trucks, Cat D6T and D8R dozers and
Komatsu D51 dozers.
“We have to run about 10,000 feet of water mains; we are going to be building a water tower halfway
up the mountain nearby. A 300,000-gallon water tank has to go up there and right now we are running
the pipe down the mountain for that. We have two 8-inch and one 12-inch PVC water mains coming
down the mountain at about a 40 percent slope,” Muschlitz said.
Mississippi Tire Plant
Drives Economy
Forward
Tadano America Names
Southeast Sales
Manager
“All of our dozers have Trimble GPS systems. We do our compaction with Ingersoll Rand rollers. We
have a Cat 973 working here grubbing root mat and loading out topsoil. We have a Cat 330D on the
Parsons Brinckerhoff
Names Brandvik
Engineering Manager
“We will have to have all of the earth-working utilities portion of the project done by Thanksgiving.
The water piping will be done, but we are not going to do the water tower itself until next spring, so we
don't disrupt their ski season.”
Bomag Americas
Breaks Ground on New
North American
Headquarters
pipe runs. “
“We have to be completely done with our portion of the project … curbed, paved, lined striped and
landscaped by the end of October 2014. “
Despite being on schedule, the project hasn't been without challenges.
“The biggest challenge is the unsuitable materials,” Muschlitz said. “They are not just in one spot. They
are all over the place. You will be making a cut in nice material and then all of sudden you'll hit into the
wet, unsuitable materials and then you have to change your whole game plan around. There's pockets
of it all over the place.”
The unsuitable material did not come by surprise, however.
“We dug test pits out here during the bid process,” he said. “and there was an extensive geotechnical
report done on the project. We had a pretty good idea that there would be a lot of unsuitables to deal
with here.”
The unsuitable materials are being shipped to several locations, including a few of the ski slopes that
are being re-graded, which will make it easier for them to groom their slopes when they are making
snow, according to Muschlitz.
The majority of the suitable material, however, is remaining on site to fill other areas, including a huge
pocket of concrete loaded with rebar.
“Our rock excavation is coming up in our next phase here. We'll be blasting for that. We encountered
a huge pocket of concrete that someone buried here years ago. We dug it all out and hauled it to one of
the existing stone parking lots here on the property. That material, along with all of the rock material
that we blast out, won't go to waste. We'll bring in one of our crushers and crush that material into
aggregate and use it for our sub base material under pavements here on site.
“There was some concrete visible on the surface, but it was pretty deep down in here. We chose to
remove it in order to ensure stability of the fills in this steep slope area. With 2:1 slopes in a forty foot
fill right next to a stream, we didn't want to take any chances.”
Still to come is the stormwater piping around the building, including a rip-rap swale that goes all the
way around the bottom of the project to capture any potential run off and divert it into the sediment
pond.
Muschlitz also is preparing the area for a contractor to build a water tower. Water lines will be run
from where the tank is going to be up on the hill and then down to the hotel and lodge.
“There are four existing wells on the property and we have to run feeder lines from each of those
wells,” he said. “The water comes out of the wells and gets fed into the treatment area inside the new
hotel. The water gets treated and sent up the mountain and stored in the water tank. There is an eightinch line going up to the tank to feed it, then coming back from the tank is an eight inch line for
domestic use and a 12-inch line for fire.”
In addition, Muschlitz also is doing some PennDOT improvements on Camelback Drive and installing a
new 8 in. sanitary forcemain to the existing treatment plant on the property.
“We have seven segmented retaining walls that will go in here. Some of the walls have to be done by
Thanksgiving. Four of the walls have to be done in order for us to get the grades up to turn the pad over
by Thanksgiving.
Also on the Job
The clearing subcontractor, Paul Giroux Inc. from Wind Gap, Pa., is handling the clearing and
grubbing for Muschlitz using a tub grinder.
Giroux is making mulch and hauling it off.
Horizon Construction from Wisconsin is general contractor on the job and will be doing the waterpark
construction, the hotel and the lodge.
Muschlitz Excavating
The business was founded in 1990 and is run by Vice President Jack Muschlitz, his brother, David, who
serves as secretary/treasurer and his father, Ronald, who is the president of the company.
The Bath, Pa., company has between 100 and 110 employees and performs a wide variety of site
development packages.
“We are pretty diverse,” Jack Muschlitz said. “We'll do projects like warehouses; commercial projects;
public work such as schools and roadwork. We are doing a nice-sized project right now at Lehigh
Valley International Airport. We've also worked at Queen City Airport and Mt. Pocono Airport in the
past. We paved the runways at Queen City and Mt. Pocono Airport. Right now at Lehigh Valley Airport
we are doing earthwork and utility project with a large retaining wall. A lot of cuts and fills over there.
That is in preparation for another phase of some work the airport wants to do.
“Right now we are in the middle of Northampton Middle School, which is a nice project for us. It's
about a $7 million project for us, which consists of the complete site package, site prep for the new
school. We have utility work, paving, earthwork and soil exchange over there. We had to export a
large quantity of soil and build a pad with imported crushed aggregate.”
The company also is working on residential projects with complete infrastructure improvements,
including utilities, curbing and paving.
Midlantic Machinery
Muschlitz bought its first machine, a WA250 rubber-tire loader from Midlantic Machinery in the early
1990s, when the company was known as Furnival.
“I give a lot of credit to our salesman, Barry Talley, he does a great job for us,” said Muschlitz. “He
really goes to bat for us on things, when we need something in a jam, he is right there. Midlantic —
they do go the extra mile for us. We probably have 80 or 90 pieces of heavy equipment plus all of our
trucks. Of those, about 40 of them are Komatsu equipment. If there is an issue with something, I pick
up the phone and call Barry, and he is right on top of it and he takes care of it. They do what they say
they are going to do. They give you a number and that's the number. You don't have to play games. We
have good luck with their equipment. It runs day in and day out. It's working for us. We are happy
with the Komatsu product.
Region: Northeast Edition | StoryID: 21490 | Published On: 11/6/2013
Construction Equipment Guide
470 Maryland Drive
Fort Washington, PA 19034
800-523-2200
About Us
Construction Equipment Guide covers the nation with its four regional newspapers,
offering construction and industry news and information along with new and used
construction equipment for sale from dealers in your area. Now we extend those services