Springfield Underground awaits completion of above-ground plant

Springfield Underground is spreading its wings on the other side of the turf above ground, that is. Now under construction on the east side of Highway 65, between Division and Kearney, is a 10,000-square-foot building that will house a rock crushing and screening plant capable of handling 600 tons of limestone an hour.

Scheduled to begin operation April 21, the $5 million construction project is being built by Brooks Systems Corpora-tion out of Nazareth, Penn. The plant is an integral part of the initial phase of a 500-acre real estate development above Springfield Underground and continued expansion underground.

The structure was designed by Spring-field Underground staff and Brooks Systems to provide a quiet, dust-free environment. Louis Griesemer, chief ex-ecutive officer for Springfield Under-ground, said the plant will serve several quintessential purposes in his vision for further development.

"The main reason for investing that kind of money in screening rock is to provide an attractive appearance compatible for a business park. Of the several bids we received, Brooks was not the lowest. But their capability to build on a very small footprint made this plan the most aesthetically pleasing," Griesemer said.

Added David Holberg, special projects director and plant manager for Spring-field Underground, "There is not another plant like it in the United States. It's not your usual bang for a buck. It's built for performance. Controls in this plant could run a million tons of limestone a year with a five-day work week and eight-hour shifts."

Partially crushed rock is transported from 100 feet below ground to inside the computerized plant by a 375-foot conveyer belt. Sifting screens measuring 6 feet by 20 feet vibrate and sort the crushed limestone. Conveyers, called telestackers, direct the crushed rock by size into product piles. An air separation process using moist air gusts and negative pressure allows the dust to be contained and loaded for agricultural lime.

"Usually a crushing-screening plant is not enclosed," Griesemer said, "because you want to see what's happening with the rock. In this case, electronics monitor everything that's going on. There's a lot of redundancy in the system of sensors. The enclosed system not only makes the plant more aesthetic, it allows us the ability to manage two problems."

First, he noted, farmers need ag-lime to be kept dry so that it spreads more easily on their fields. But if the ag-lime is kept dry, and not in an enclosed area, the dust is uncontrollable.

"By enclosing the screener, we are able to have a recovery system to store and stockpile the ag-lime underground," Griesemer said.

Because a cubic yard of limestone rock weighs about 1.5 tons, shipping can be costly. Most of the product mined at Springfield Underground is sold locally for use in making concrete.

"You can haul half the distance to the next good quarry, then it becomes cost- prohibitive," Griesemer said.

The concrete used to pave Interstate 44 from Glenstone in Springfield to Rolla in the 1950's came from limestone mined at the Griesemer Stone Quarry at the present site of Springfield Underground, he added.

In 1954, the open-pit quarry was ex-panded underground using the "room and pillar" method of mining. Limestone pillars measuring 30 feet by 30 feet support the roof, making it possible to have warehouses and distribution centers 100 feet below ground, where they're protected from temperature extremes, severe weather or flooding. There are now 2.5 million square feet of temperature-controlled warehouses underground.

The new crusher will free 1 million square feet of space, which will allow additional development of the existing underground building sites.

Relocating rock-pile storage areas above ground will clear 30 to 40 acres underground, which will be divided into 10-acre plots zoned for heavy manufacturing.

In addition to the construction of the crushing plant, Griesemer has other improvements under way to prepare the area for development comparable to and compatible with the Partnership Indus-trial Center across Kearney. Water retention basins are being landscaped and stocked with fish. A new entrance has been cut that will allow a four-lane highway to access the underground from Le-Compte Road.

In order to enhance and complement its proposed development, Springfield Underground has a contract with the city of Springfield and the Missouri State Highway Department to share one-third of the $1.5 million cost to improve the intersection at LeCompte and Kearney.

"There are already over 300 trucks going in and out of here every day and we need a signal-controlled intersection that will facilitate the increase in traffic volume," Griesemer said. "Earl Newman and that department (the city's Depart-ment of Public Works) has been great to work with. They're aware of our plans and we enjoy a good working relationship with the city."