The hole and sono tube that will go into the hole in front of Model Shoe Shine Parlor.
A Verizon cell tower is on the horizon where a streetlight used to stand in front of Model Shoe Shine Parlor two doors west of our office in downtown Albuquerque. Contractors removed the streetlight, pulled up the bricks in the sidewalk, dug a deep hole, put a 36 inch by about 12 feet long sono tube (concrete form) into the hole with rebar and conduit for wiring, and filled the sono tube with concrete. I did not have time to go out and get photos of the sono tube filled with concrete. One worker told me it took three yards of concrete to fill the sono tube. It takes a deep foundation to support a cell tower.
Sono tube in the ground with a lot of conduit for wiring.
A peek deep into the soon tube full of rebar, wires, and conduit ready to be filled with concrete.
Off Center & Not Even 
That is the biggest sonotube I have ever seen. Not surprised it took a lot of concrete to fill it.
Hi Lavinia. It is a big one. We use 18 inch diameter sono tubes cut in 28 inch or 29 inch lengths for supports under desktops. The difference lengths depend on whether we use a locking or non-locking file cabinet on the other end of the desktop.
That is a great idea for supports!
A lot of staff don’t like the sono tubes. They think they are not profesional enough. But they have served us well, gave me a lot of flexibiity to customize desks and work spaces, and the configuration gave staff a lof space on their desktops. They are going to lose that space and flexibility with cubicles in the new building.
Where are the cats and the owls?
The owls and kitties are not downtown. But they are all okay. Thanks, Gabriela.
My pleasure. I know they are not downtown but I got used to seeing them almost every night. Hugs to everyone 🤗
I haven’t seen Daddy Owl for the past few evenings. He’s been out hunting for Mama Owl. I hear him in the night. Kitties are as ornery as ever.
Thank you for letting me know. Sending hugs and wishes for a great day to everyone 🤗
That’s interesting, Tim. I like seeing photos of various sorts of work in progress. Hugs.
Thanks, Teagan. Projects like that are interesting to see what is needed below to hold up a cell tower.
Do they normally put cell towers on the streets in that downtown? Although I live in the country, our local cells either sit outside of town or in our bigger cities placed on top of the larger buildings.
The is a first. There are a lot of towers on the buildings in downtown, so I’m not sure how this project came about.
Strange place to put a Verizon cell tower 🙂 Never seen something like this before, most of the time they stand in open terrain or on lager building here in Belgium.
It is strange. But they must have a reason.
my lord this is some size of an operation.
It sure is. Thanks, Shey.
I love watching constructions! That’s a lot of concrete going in there! Is this safe being so close to people?
Safety? Who knows. It’s being done and the only reason we know it’s a Verizon cell tower is the workers told us. We got no other notifications.
🤔 Let’s assume then it is! 😉
It’s fascinating to watch the machinations of building (or putting up) various structures!
It’s interesting to see what goes under and stays hidden. Thanks, Dale.
No kidding. A whole ‘nother world!
This brings so much back. Glad to see the rebar cage wasn’t burning the tube, Those are massive anchor bolts!
I believe they are planning to keep that tower upright. As long a s car doesn’t crash into it. Thanks, Maj & Sher.
It is interesting this is a first of a kind cell tower placed at street level. ABQ should be proud of itself as a test bed of sorts. There’s always been talk of doing things like this in the past as digital and cellular communications become more commonplace. At least that’s what I read in Popular Mechanics and Popular Science, when you were still riding motorcicles and I was thinking what am I doing here in boot camp. 🙂
It may be a first in Albuquerque, and least in the downtown. It will be interesting to see the finished tower. Thanks, David.
These are great photos, Tim. We walk through our streets, and work in our buildings without knowing what lies beneath. It is the subconscious of architecture.
It’s hard to imagine what all lies under the streets we walk on daily. Thanks, Rebecca.
So many stories…..
Cool, I’ve always been interested in the foundations of buildings and things, I guess that goes hand in hand with being terrified of bridges and skyscrapers! 😉
Hi Tiffany. Is it going under or over bridges or both that terrifies you? Laurie’s brother had a girlfriend years ago who couldn’t drive over bridges.
Mostly going over bridges, I don’t trust structures, from the foundation up.
Makes sense.
That’s a deal. Interesting!
Interesting enough that it is 5g. Thanks, Resa.