The Pipeline Blog

United Poly supplies UL conduit for West Coast highway infrastructure project

Written by Bruce Tucker | Jun 16, 2021 3:30:00 PM

The busy highways and interchanges of Southern California present a unique set of challenges for laying communications and electrical line. A utility district contracted the installation of several thousand feet of conduit to protect the cable along Interstate 215 and State Highways 259 and 210 in and around the city of San Bernardino. The goal of the project is to upgrade infrastructure, enhance safety and improve traffic flow.

United Poly Systems supplies nearly 60,000 feet of conduit

The conduit is used to protect Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) fiber optic cable for CCTV, traffic monitoring and ramp monitoring of highway traffic. The conduit must be strong enough to protect the fiber, but flexible for handling and installation.

The contractor, the distributor, and United Poly Systems collaborated to supply the HDPE conduit for this project. UPS was contracted to source conduit that met project specifications and ended up supplying several thousand feet of grey UL conduit. The majority of the conduit is four inches in diameter, with additional two- and three-inch conduit. One-inch diameter HDPE innerduct was also installed in the conduit to house wiring for highway lighting and ramp metering.

Conduit delivery and install run smoothly, despite logistical challenges

United Poly delivered the conduit in Q2 2021. The conduit is currently being installed alongside the highway via horizontal directional drilling (HDD).

To avoid slowing traffic and interfering with daytime commutes, the project work is performed at night. This practice is customary for most highway projects. To avoid accidents and mitigate risk for contractors, traffic is shut down in the lane adjacent to the shoulder as work progresses next to flowing traffic. An attenuator vehicle is also in place to help protect the work crew.

The current volatility of the HDPE supply presents an additional challenge. All the parties worked together to make sure order was expedited. The distributor ensured that the project specifications were met, and the product delivered on time to San Bernardino from the UPS facility in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Inside Sales Representative for the distributor commented, “at the end of the day, 100% customer satisfaction is the goal that we are looking for. The project went smoothly, and the customer was very satisfied with the product and delivery time. UPS is always great to work with.”

The Project Manager added, “we had concerns about the order due to the volatility of the market. Our purchasing department contacted Bruce Tucker at UPS to make sure the order was expedited. He confirmed production and checked the process at every step to make sure the order was delivered as planned.”

Results

United Poly delivered the conduit in Q2 2021. Conduit installation was completed by October 2021, and the entire project was finished in March 2022.