As a Journeyman Pile Driver, Jesse Burns usually does what his title implies: he drives pile into the ground. Piles are large beams that are anchored deep in the earth (anywhere from 35 to 100 feet) and serve as the foundation for construction work that comes later. On this particular project, however, Jesse has spent the majority of his time installing the complex falsework involved with the Sixth Street Viaduct.
Jesse began his career as a pile driver in 2012 because, he told us, "I wanted to do big work." He was inspired by feats of engineering like the Golden Gate Bridge and wanted to be a part of building something incredible. So Jesse started an apprenticeship at the Whittier Training School, operated by the Southwest Carpenters union, and soon found work on exactly the kind of project he was hoping for: helping to construct the new Gerald Desmond Bridge spanning the Port of Long Beach's Back Channel.
Now, Jesse is once again working on a bridge replacement project and couldn't be more excited. He gets to walk across iron beams that weigh tens of thousands of pounds, sometimes hundreds of feet in the air. To some, that might sound intimidating or even outright terrifying. But Jesse told us that he thinks he has the coolest job around and can't believe how lucky he is.
"The fact that they pay me to do this is awesome!" he said.
This iconic project is also incredibly complex, Jesse explained. Where most bridges may have one or two layers of falsework, the Sixth Street Viaduct has four. The floor beams, for example, have a parabolic shape (which, we looked up, means they curve) so Jesse and his colleagues have to consider all kinds of factors like pitch, fall, rake, and radius when installing the falsework. Jesse said sometimes they would spend a lot of the day just doing math. Good thing they did, because this is all certainly over our heads!
One of the most rewarding moments so far was also perhaps the most challenging. In order to install falsework spanning the 101 Freeway, huge 30,000 pound beams had to be raised by 150 ton cranes through very tight spaces in order to be put into place. Jesse got into this job to do big work, and he's certainly doing that now.
