On the surface, the $230-million Silver Lake Reservoir Replacement Project in Burbank—which resembles a big concrete warehouse—looks like a simple project. But the construction team has had to overcome a host of hurdles, including a fast-track schedule, demanding concrete placement and a tunnel dig through sinkhole-prone soil.
"People have come to the jobsite and asked if we are building a Costco," says Alexander Reyman, construction manager for the Los Angeles Dept. of Water and Power (DWP), which is the owner and designer. "But what we are building is a lot more important; it is a sophisticated, covered reservoir that is going to get buried, and is meant to work as a flow-through reservoir."