Second in a series of stories on primary local contractors working to build the Rafter 3C Arena.
After being awarded the contract based on their competitive bid, A&K Earthmovers of Fallon has been working on the civil construction and structural concrete aspects of Churchill County’s new Rafter 3C Arena.
The civil construction contract includes earthwork, site concrete, wet (e.g., water, sewer, storm drain) and dry (e.g. electricity, telephone and gas) utilities along with laying down the aggregate base and paving the parking lot. Part of this contract encompasses overseeing subcontractors who are putting up fencing, signage and striping the 700-space parking lot later this spring.
A&K’s structural concrete contract responsibilities meant overseeing several subcontractors and vendors who laid the rebar and did the concrete pouring and finishing. One of those vendors, Hiskett & Sons, also of Fallon, provided 3,600 cubic yards of concrete, enough to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool or cover a football field eight inches deep, to build the Rafter 3C Arena.
Every concrete compression test met or exceeded structural strength requirements which meant no setbacks or time delays on that aspect of the project.
At one point early on, A&K was able to recognize that additional excavation subgrade work needed to be done and quickly stepped up and addressed the issue to bring the project schedule back on time.
A&K contracted with the county for $2.977 million to complete the work mentioned above.
A&K Earthmovers has been in business since 1957 as a general engineering contractor specializing in sitework preparation, excavation, underground utilities, pump stations, structural concrete, gravel base and paving, mining leach pads, geothermal sitework and gravel and sand production.
Local projects A&K Earthmovers has worked on include the E.C. Best School playground, Banner Churchill Community Hospital, housing at NAS Fallon, NDOT’s Maine Street bridge and most recently, the City of Fallon’s South Maine Street project.
Photo: A&K Earthmovers pour concrete for the Rafter 3C Arena in 2021.