October 2011, Vol. 66 No. 10

Compact track loaders from Bobcat, Case, Kubota Tractor Corp., Caterpillar, New Holland, John Deere and Terex.

Click below to view Underground Construction's <a href="/sites/default/files/UC Oct 11_Capabilities.pdf">2011 Capabilities Guide</a>.

Piercing tools from TT Technologies, Footage Tools, HammerHead Trenchless, Hudco Mfg., Allied Construction Products.

RedZone Robotics has acquired Clenaflow Systems, a leading provider of wastewater inspection technologies based in New Zealand. Cleanflow has developed innovative and cutting-edge solutions for assessing and measuring the underground infrastructure.

Advertisers from the print edition of <em>Underground Construction</em>, October 2011, Vol. 66 No. 10.

McElroy, the pipe fusion experts, is celebrating 15 years of Pit Bull fusion machines. The Pit Bull line of machines butt fuse thermoplastic pipes together for use in water, gas, mining, wastewater, geothermal, landfill methane recovery and other industries.

The U.S. Department of Labor announced enhancements to its online enforcement database designed to improve public access to and understanding of the department’s enforcement actions.

Following a trench collapse that killed one worker and injured another, an Ohio excavation company now faces Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) penalties in excess of $150,000.

EPA has awarded $534,000 to the city of Lincoln, NE, for improvements to the Theresa Street Wastewater Treatment Facility, which is expected to be completed by the spring of 2013.

Preliminary results from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries released in August show little change in the number of workplace fatalities in 2010 compared with 2009.

The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (MSD) signed a consent decree on Aug. 5 with regulators and environmentalists to make extensive improvements to its sewer systems and treatment plants, at an estimated cost of $4.7 billion over 23 years.

In an effort to learn continually from other operators and to improve North America’s pipeline system safety, the American Gas Association, the American Petroleum Institute, the Association of Oil Pipe Lines and the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, together with the Canadian Gas Association and the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association, have initiated a comprehensive study to explore safety models and procedures currently utilized by other industry sectors in an effort to deliver natural gas and pipeline-transported liquids more safely and reliably.

Guest speaker Jason Iken, P.E., senior assistant director, city of Houston-Wastewater Operations Branch, spoke to nearly 90 attendees at the Underground Construction Technology Association (UCTA) Gulf Coast Chapter general luncheon meeting held in Houston on Aug. 3. The topic covered the city of Houston’s management of its sanitary sewer rehab program.

In June 2011, American Airlines’ Tulsa Engineering Facility personnel discovered a severe leak in their fire suppression system following a recent activation. The section of damaged pipeline was approximately 70 feet long and was situated 8 feet below a power substation, and encompassed one 10-inch tee. Dig and replace was not a viable option.

UTI offers drill pipe for nearly every make and model of drill rig.

Felling Trailers utilizes new technology from Dexter Axle in its FT-24 I trailer. This 12,000-pound #14 Torflex axle has an independent suspension with a rubber ride so there is no steel-on-steel contact.

With over approximately 4 million feet of installed water & sewer pipe in thousands of projects, Fusible PVC™ is the fastest growing pipe material choice in North America.

The self-propelled, robust LAMP II is designed to perform lateral inspections while traversing the mainline.

Vortec Pro bonded abrasive products are specifically designed for general purpose grinding and cutting applications on steel, iron and other ferrous metals.

Last year Volvo Construction Equipment signed a deal to provide 125 machines to the Papua New Guinea Liquid Natural Gas Project (PNG LNG). Now, almost a year later, Volvo has delivered 133 units and the machines have started work.

ICON Tunnel Systems offers a full line of Bohrtec pilot tube microtunneling systems that consist of 10 different machines with the ability to install pipes with outside diameters from 4 to 55 inches.

The second group of new ZX Dash-5 excavators has been released by Hitachi. The ZX470LC-5, ZX670LC-5 and ZX870LC-5 models replace the predecessor ZX450LC-3, ZX650LC-3 and ZX850LC-3 units.

There are four key elements to having a really good Cured-in-Place Pipe (CIPP) installation: 1. Proper saturation of the tube; 2. Proper inflation of the resin saturated tube in the host pipe; 3. A full and thorough curing of the resin system used; and 4. A proper cool-down of the CIPP.

Pipe bursting is a proven method for replacing underground pipelines and is the only method of pipeline rehabilitation and replacement other than open cut-excavation that can increase the size of an existing utility without trenching.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has established a schedule for filing motions by both parties in the styrene industry’s legal challenge to the federal government’s designation of styrene as a possible cause of cancer.

Manholes consist of multiple components and are made of different materials, each serving a different purpose but contributing to the complete manhole structure. Each component typically has its own set of defects and deterioration mechanisms.

A new jetter pipe cleaning video will be available for distribution this fall. Produced by NASSCO (National Association of Sewer Service Companies) and industry partners, the video contains information about jetting equipment and tools and how they are used to safely and successfully clean pipes, said Sheila Joy, chairperson of the NASSCO committee responsible for developing the video.

In November, the Trenchless Technology Center (TTC) at Louisiana Tech University will mark the 20th anniversary of its official establishment. Center staff members will celebrate the date quietly, going about their business -- no special events are planned.

Branson is a popular Southwestern Missouri family vacation center, home to Silver Dollar City, hotels, fine restaurants, more than 50 live performance centers, a dozen championship golf courses and a host of other attractions. Yet city homes and businesses are just now being connected to natural gas.

Kirk Lewis knows a thing or two about horizontal auger boring. Lewis, vice president and co-founder of L&L Utilities, based in East Dublin, GA, was first exposed to this century-old trenchless installation method at a young age while working with his father at their family-owned contracting business.

There are many types of awards or special recognition bestowed annually in our industry -- the underground infrastructure construction and rehabilitation market. Most are well-deserved and for the right reasons (though there does seem to be a lot of “political” thinking involved in some of that recognition – but that’s a conversation for another day).

The pipeline safety recommendations issued by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on Aug. 30 puts significant pressure on both Congress and the Obama administration to respond to the problems discovered as part of the NTSB investigation of the PG&E San Bruno explosion in December 2010.