At Fort Bliss Army Post in El Paso, Texas, Sundt is building a target range – its third practice facility at Fort Bliss – designed specifically for machine gun training. The $7.5 million Automated Multipurpose Machine Gun Range project began in early January 2012 and is expected to be completed on January 29, 2013.
It sits on a 200-acre site that includes the range itself, a range operations and control area, classroom building, ammunition breakdown building, bleacher enclosure, range operations and storage building, operations tower, latrine, covered mess, and building information systems. Supporting facilities include electric service, paving, storm drainage, site improvements and information systems.
Sundt’s ability to self-perform all of the concrete work is playing an instrumental role in helping the team control the project’s quality and tight schedule. They created the foundations for the buildings and are manufacturing 120 concrete blocks, each measuring 2x2x6 feet, using an efficient assembly line approach.
One of the project’s biggest challenges is staying within the designated work areas, which were cleared of unexploded ordinances prior to Sundt’s arrival. (Much of Fort Bliss was used as a bombing practice range during World War II; it still includes many live bombs that restrict where construction crews can operate.) Another challenge is the limited source of water that dictates the team’s production rates.