The Bigfork hydroelectric project is located on the Swan River about one-half mile above Flathead Lake in Montana. In May of 2001 JR Merit was awarded the installation of new pipeline. The project consisted of removing 2,000 feet of 9'-0" diameter existing buried wood stave pipe and replacing it with 10'-0" diameter HDPE pipe.

Due to the location and ground profile where the pipeline was placed, installation was challenging. The project also required the construction of concrete transition structures to accommodate the pipeline tie-ins.

At the same time the flowline was under construction, the JR Merit team was performing the mechanical rehabilitation of unit 2. Both projects were planned to complete at the same time so unit testing could occur and mitigate the outage period.

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