A.H. Beck was contracted to install access, alignment, and vent shafts for a super collider with the Department of Energy.
The super conducting super collider was a Department of Energy project to build a giant underground atom smasher. To accomplish this, they had to construct a 30 foot diameter underground tunnel 64 miles long. The tunnel was shaped like an oval and would house a large electromagnetic race track that would control the atoms. A. H. Beck was contracted to install access, alignment and vent shafts to facilitate the tunnel excavation. These access shafts varied from 18 to 30 feet in diameter to depths of 285 feet.
A. H. Beck developed a system of installing a series of secant piles to stabilize the upper soft soils and high torque drilling equipment to excavate the lower shales.
