The pipeline and checking for mud!

Following the Pipeline

The pipeline really is an engineering marvel.  There are 554 specially built animal crossing.  It crosses 34 major rivers and 800 other smaller rivers and streams.  It crosses three mountain ranges, the Brooks, the Alaska, and the Chugach.  It is 48” in diameter, and is built in this zigzag formation to allow for expansion and contraction, and for possible earthquakes.

 It has radiators at the top of each u=shaped poll to went heat skyward.  In some areas where it is built underground, it is refrigerated to protect the permafrost.

The bas is 155-180 degrees coming out of the deep ground at Prudhoe Bay.  It is 115 degrees when it reaches Valdez.   They must have done a tremendous amount of planning to have been ready when the authorization and money was approved.  It spans 801 miles and was built in three years, from 1974-77.

While we were stopped here, John cleaned the signal lights in the back so that they could be seen. An d we also noted how much mud we had accumulated on the runners of the truck!