Lafarge’s Freedom Gravel Mine is located on both sides of County Road 21 in the Town of Freedom, Cattaraugus County. The gravel processing plant is located to the southwest of County Road 21 and Elton Creek, while the mining area is located northeast of the road.

We prepared a mining permit modification that included construction and operation of a conveyor crossing County Road 21 and Elton Creek. This modification allowed unprocessed sand and gravel from the mining area northeast of County Road 21 to be transferred to the processing and stockpiling area, southwest of the road. A field conveyor transports sand and gravel to the enclosed gallery that passes over County Road 21 and Elton Creek and continues to a hopper that feeds the processing plant.

McMahon & Mann also assisted in designing the enclosed gallery caisson foundation and steel frame supports. We designed the concrete foundations, including the dimensions and reinforcing, meeting the American Concrete Institute code. We designed the steel frames that extended from the base of the conveyor to the top of the foundations using loads and connection information provided by the conveyor manufacturer.