Alyeska in '75: fine progress made: many problems licked

This 798-mile, 48-inch crude line has been constructed in some of the world's most inhospitable terrain and weather. The pipeline construction is expected to be completed in late 1976. It is divided into five sections and assigned to five construction companies or combines. Section 1, starting at Valdez and running to about Glennallen, typifies all of the construction problems, methods, and techniques needed to lay the 48-inch crude line. Conditions included ice-rich and regular permafrost, rock and regular ditches, streams active in fish migrations, ''dead'' streams, game crossings, and buried and elevated pipe installations. Pipeline hardware problems included welding, heating pipe ends, and covering pipes with fiberglass. (MCW)