ABSTRACT
In October 1968, Atlantic-Richfield Company (ARCO), Humble, and British Petroleum formed the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) as an unincorporated joint venture. In November 1968, ARCO and Humble applied for land in Valdez for a terminal. By December, the feasibility studies were finished and the basic TAPS design concept had emerged. In planning for implementation of the TAPS project, attention had to focus on the Alaskan construction cycle. Alyeska wanted to retain Bechtel Corporation as a supervisory planning contractor to plan the pipeline and roads portion, which was then thought to be the greater challenge. The original design plan had to be modified from one in which about 95 percent of the pipeline would be buried to one in which over one half would be above ground supported by expensive piling. Increasingly tighter stipulations proposed by the Interior Department restricted Alyeska’s freedom of choice in design and construction practices.
