Idaho's BIGGEST Earthmoving Project... For Data?

Data centers require LOTS of utilities. And this site in Idaho sits on solid basalt, a hard and abrasive rock.
To install the spiderweb of pipes beneath the building, there are typically two options-blast and dig each trench or raise the entire building pad with a monster import.
But what if there was a third option?
Secret option three was precisely what Ralph L Wadsworth opted for. They’d blast and over-excavate the entire building pad by 10 feet, crush it all to a manageable size, and replace all the material.
The result? A blank canvas for the utility and foundation packages. Sweet!
You can learn more about RLW and their projects at www.wadsco.com/

[@ProudPapaw88]

Great job, Aaron! I find this channel to be very informative. Keep up the good work. I use to operate Cat equipment until an injury took me out. Thanks for sharing and have a great day!!

[@AaronWitt]

thanks for watching!!

[@sxslayerxs]

I seen a lot of KZbin videos of machines tipping over hope you weren’t one of them

[@ProudPapaw88]

@@sxslayerxs no, l lost a step on a backhoe I was operating and had to stop and get out and the step was gone and when I went for the step I went straight down on the battery box with my tailbone and drove my spine up and lost (broke a couple vertebrae. Was forced to have surgery and they messed me up and had to redo it a couple days later and I haven’t worked in almost 31 or 32 years.

[@sxslayerxs]

@@ProudPapaw88 my God that’s a bad injury and I’m glad you are still here to watch some great heavy equipment videos. You really don’t hear enough praise for the operators.

[@tylerhenning2724]

Stoked that you came to Idaho to check out one of our projects!!!

[@rickkearn7100]

Very educational channel. Have often wondered about these kinds of heavy construction methods, processes, engineering etc. Well done, AW! Cheers.

[@AaronWitt]

thank you very much!

[@rickkearn7100]

My grandsons, aged 8 and 4 years, love this channel as well. @@AaronWitt

[@johnnymurff4137]

Awesome video like the commentary and the shots of the whole operation especially the trucks being loaded with big scoops of material and the shots of basalt being fed to the crusher and crushed. Keep up the good work

[@AaronWitt]

thanks for watching!

[@rp1645]

Thank you ( Aaron Witt) for shearing this big job. I Love how the Recycle is done on site. I picked up at Con - Expo a few years back, this was being pushed at job sites. Do the crushing on site, then use the modern ( GPS) for finishing grade. 😊

[@Rhys12digger]

Awesome channel, Great videos

[@shantyshaker]

Northern VA has hundreds of data centers going in and been built in the past few years, its insane the amount that goes into these places

[@MacIraq]

Makes sense when you think about the money lost if an availability zone goes down even for a few minutes. Impressive stuff for sure.

[@justinhargett7222]

No one in Northern VA likes these data centers - other than the politicians and wealthy contractors. They are a huge eye sore and resource drain. They take up hundreds of acres while providing minimal jobs.

[@AaronWitt]

yeah but they're starting to move out into the west because of constraints on power / water

[@shantyshaker]

@@AaronWitt I don't doubt it, I deliver and set up office trailers/construction offices and see a good bit of the entire process from ground breaking to finished products, data centers are in a league of their own when it comes to utilities.

[@magneticB]

More clean hydro out west - lots of data centers in Oregon already

[@angelsimperfi1999]

BIG HUGS FOR THE RLW BOYS.. PUSHING AWSOME VIDEO. BIG TONY!!!!

[@crip6ns]

Another awesome video, just wish they were longer

[@AaronWitt]

we're getting there!

[@SmashingBricksAU]

Love the videos mate but you need to learn the Komatsu range 🤣. "Big Komatsu Loader" doesn't cut it 🤣, it's a WA600-6. There was even a HD605 dump truck in one of the shots.

[@AaronWitt]

I'll get there one day

[@jascollinscork]

Thanks for answering the question on the tip of my tounge Aussie brinkman 😊

[@nlj1738]

at the end of the day its all little loader normal loader big loader and "wtf is that loader?! they make em that big?!" loaders

[@klausthedog9670]

Take your meds.

[@MitzvosGolem1]

At least Komatsu doesn't use Chinese parts like CAT. I just bought parts for my 320 CAT "made in China" cost $$$$. I almost threw it through the dealers window.

[@jimbernard71]

GREAT VIDEO!!!

[@ryanozbun9661]

Gotta be cost plus. How many times can you handle the material lol

[@chiefsilverback]

3,500,000 sq ft pad, excavated to 10 ft depth, that's 35,000,000 cu/ft of material dug, hauled, processed and placed for one data center. Crazy!

[@heinekenczech]

Just awesome! Thank you

[@MrChickwick]

How were you able to get on site to do this video? Did you also clear your drone flights with the general contractor overseeing the site?

[@christopherweldy]

Love your videos

[@AaronWitt]

thanks for watching!

[@UncleManuel]

You know the ancient Chinese saying: "The Internet is the sum of all human knowledge. Plus p*rn." 😁😁😁😜

[@djscotty06]

There would be a few data storage sits to back up the worlds p$rn hahaha.

[@bscholer]

Would love to see more about how drone mapping is used for stockpile measurement, progress tracking, etc sometime!

[@anthonyjohnson100]

You should come to the big island of Hawaii to visit all of our quarries and compare them. Puna Rock, Yamada and sons, glover, and Sanford are the main ones.

[@jerryrambo6343]

Some of those camera angles make those machines look like toys!

[@hillhousetrucking8572]

Should have went to Bend oregon to see taylor northwest. They built a city of data centers for facecrap

[@CamoSnowman]

You guys should go to Wisconsin and visit Ponsse logging equipment! Awesome company and people.

[@lunatic3571]

Project meta out here in kuna/south Boise! at the corner of S Cole and kuna mora rd! don't know why it's a secret as we all know about it out here.

[@strobelightbrian]

Nice video as always!

[@AaronWitt]

thank you!

[@troykoenig9178]

Shout out to Caterpillar Victoria, Tx on the 374/95 manufacturing..

[@AaronWitt]

hopefully we can tour one day

[@apersunthathasaridiculousl1890]

They’re trynna find the USB with bitcoin on it 🗿

[@chrisseboldvlogs5011]

So cool

[@blueman5924]

Mmmm. I asked Siri about where you were, and she said to Google it. Phhhh.! Glad you got a replacement drone. 👍👍

[@xXxOklahomAxXx]

Wish you’d get a chance to see the Micron project out here in Boise! Believe it or not it’s an even bigger and crazier project. The company I work for has been doing the soils and concrete testing and it’s so cool to see the progress on massive projects like these.

[@robbyrigoni2940]

I was on a google dats center. They had to move 3.2 millions yards of dirt.

[@AaronWitt]

that's awesome

[@cmm3338]

what we thinking? 4M a month minimum in excavation costs alone?

[@inothome]

Meta's Kuna facility? hmmm....

[@nicholaswittman2977]

It's Meta, everyone in Idaho knows it's Meta.

[@AaronWitt]

shhh

[@jackhewitt2513]

What saftey glasses are they 🤔

[@danielmcardle2428]

Good content..videos need 2 b longer tho

[@brendankaye7983]

there are adt's as well

[@jascollinscork]

Great video 👌🏼😍 some load of work going on there BUT More info on the Komatsu kit would have been nice as I was sure if it was a 600 or a 800 loading shovel! Was the a different contractor on the crushing team maybe?

[@samuelrich88]

Meanwhile in North Central Oregon I’ve been building data centers for another confidential client on pure sand 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@Eisenwolf.de1]

😑

[@AaronWitt]

same but different

[@casetractorfarmer1]

U should visit the Microsoft data center project in mt pleasant wi. Walsh is the contractor

[@MountainCuban]

Pumice Stone I believe. Crazy abrasive stuff for sure.

[@gmarie701]

Not even close to pumice. Basalt is at leat ten times as dense and many times harder.

[@lunatic3571]

lava rock, much harder than pumice and heavier. I live like 10 miles away from this site. all of kuna has a hard pan of this stuff anywhere from 6 inches to 6 feet down below ground level.

[@MountainCuban]

@@lunatic3571 Vesicular Basalt it seems. We don't really have that up here, mostly just normal basalt, not the swiss cheese looking kind. Not pumice at all you are right 😁

[@ernierundall1336]

Nice I would love to go work with them

[@AaronWitt]

they're hiring plenty of folks!

[@ivanfraire8345]

Is there any rebar on this project ? I'm from Atlanta ga

[@bradleyalbeirocastillejo8610]

Hello Mr. Aaron Witt invited you to make the effort to come to Colombia to visit the multinational Drummond since he was in Chile, I'll wait for you...

[@BKetch]

How much would just the dirt work cost for this project? A billion? Kind of crazy a project of this size makes sense all for our data.

[@shaunp9592]

There has to be cheaper places to build. Seems like just wasting money, blast, move to pile, move from pile to crusher, move from crusher pile to another pile, move from that pile to final placement. Dig up final placement to put utilities, put the dirt back in the hole. Just find a place that has dirt not rock and build there FFS.

[@pazzomudder]

I'm from Idaho, welcome

[@AaronWitt]

beautiful state

[@mtnbike4522]

stop telling people that. lol @@AaronWitt

[@ronlawson5819]

Maybe an episode based on track loaders…..Cat 973 or 963

[@79noel]

The owner is Meta, they're building these all over the US. They're building one in Temple.

[@f4810.]

🧡

[@jimsvideos7201]

Whose facility it is doesn't concern me, but they clearly have very deep pockets indeed.

[@betes1]

why is there such a white tint and glare of all the footage?

[@braydengordon5001]

First!!! What up Aaron!

[@TheologicalDissident]

Gotta be for META

[@edwardcarberry1095]

Another One of Those Places to Collect All of YOUR DATA! So that they know everything about EWEOU!!

[@LarsLarsen77]

It's an NSA datacenter.

[@ryanburbridge]

Who’s going to spill the beans on who and what?

[@Ariehthelionlalkin]

It’s Meta’s data centre

[@peteyflynn]

It's the Meta facility. Not too secret. And it's in kuna lol

[@BaldyBriand]

Google……. More top secret than Fort Knox …… ffs !!!…. I’ve supplied some with stainless steel floor drainage… going up everywhere in Ireland and Europe , good video 👍🏻

[@moshpit0survivor]

Lets put a power and water hungry facility in the middle of a desert in the middle of a lava field. Anything to keep the masses sedated.

[@snowscum]

The data center’s code name was “Project Peregrine. The cities working with these companies normally do not learn their identities until late in the game. In an email to a constituent, Stear said that when working on the project he thought it would be a great deal for Kuna, but when Meta revealed its identity it “took some wind out of that sail.” Still, the project pressed onward. And Stear has hope that everything will work out well. Another clueless bought politician.

[@-S-K-Miller]

A great site... no trees for your drone to hit...

[@als8518]

seems extraordinarily expensive vs building on a site that already had suitable soils.

[@astecheee1519]

Not if land and labour in Idaho is way cheaper. But my bet is it's geography that chose the site, not geology.

[@als8518]

more likely a property/equipment tax deal. data centers are hugely valueable to rural areas tax bases, thing might be worth more then the entire rest of the county combined@@astecheee1519

[@AaronWitt]

there's always a reason and it's usually down to $$ somewhere

[@chiefsilverback]

Access to cheap energy, steady climate, geographical proximity to key telecoms infrastructure, geographical separation from other data centers. All will play a role in the decision...

[@rmartin2763]

What is the source of power that will feed the massive server farm? I'm sure there is a large wind farm or several thousand acre solar panel farm near by to power the facility? Are they going to put a few solar panels on the roof of the building for photo opps? If no solar or wind to feed this monster, is the owner going to purchase carbon credits to off set their consumption?

[@landondc4739]

It’s for face F and it’s all hydro power.

[@gallonofcactus]

Carbon credits lol. What an idiot.

[@SteveAdlard]

All clean hydro that dumb fuck Washington governor and democrats want to take the Snake river dams out

[@wolf1974100]

It’s for Meta!

[@HotNoob]

male karen here. i saw dat loader not worrying about the transmission and reversing instantly.

[@timreed-dq3nx]

There's no "Z" in Boise.

[@ixlr825]

There is when he says it…get over it

[@AaronWitt]

sue me

[@timreed-dq3nx]

@@AaronWittwow. is it too much to ask that people pronounce it properly? It's not " Boyz-e " it's " Boy-see "

[@ixlr825]

@@timreed-dq3nx music, pleasure, business, etc…those all supposed to not sound like a “z” as well?

[@timreed-dq3nx]

If we ever meet, I'll make sure I constantly mispronounce your name.

[@potterfriendlyfiend]

i know that dozer operator pushing the rock definitely has back problems

[@franciscolinera7618]

Let's see the gazillion acre wind turbine and solar panel, battery back-up site to power the woke company mega site.

[@lunatic3571]

we have an ~2300 acre solar farm and battery reserve going in about 15 miles to the west of this if the permits go through. Idaho is one of the cleanest and cheapest electricity states in the union. mostly hydroelectric, with wind and solar as well.

[@jimbeam2705]

I wonder what LITTLE GRETA would think about all of those fuel burning machines along withthedemocratsandtheclimatecrisisclowns. 😂

[@davebrown4841]

LOL 😂

[@gmarie701]

Maybe Greta can do a Rachel Corrie protest here and then Idaho can have it's own annual memorial pancake breakfast to celebrate.

[@izaaccrawford8768]

Facebook isn’t that confidential

[@landondc4739]

We have to do all this work so the ground is stable… ffs. I hope meta starts charging a monthly fee.

[@moshpit0survivor]

Also, idaho is a myth. It was created in a Hollywood basement.

[@LearnHowToWipeYaArse]

Future fema camp

[@shaunp9592]

There has to be cheaper places to build. Seems like just wasting money, blast, move to pile, move from pile to crusher, move from crusher pile to another pile, move from that pile to final placement. Dig up final placement to put utilities, put the dirt back in the hole. Just find a place that has dirt not rock and build there FFS.

[@ryanclarke2161]

These videos are great but why does the presenter have almost no actual knowledge of earthmoving gear?

[@bobocaterpillar3697]

that is the stupidest project ive ever heard of. why not put the building near the ocean and use sea water with heat exchangers to cool the computers?!?

[@rickcoleman8903]

Sounds expensive for the taxpayers.

[@Theonetwo48]

Must be turning a big profit with the whole equipment spread basically brand new

[@dan__________________]

Na, probably all rented.

[@KyleCorfman-io1zr]

You boys in. The 27s. 🦆 walking 🛞spinnnin son of a guns Damn the stuff being screamed through the radios if that was happening at 98% of contractors sites