December 2012, Vol. 67 No. 12

The International Right of Way Association (IRWA) recently held its annual Project of the Year Competition, designed to shed light on the vital role that right of way professionals play in overseeing the nation's infrastructure projects.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited a Mississippi construction company with two willful and one serious safety violation following an inspection of two trenches where workers were relocating gas and water pipelines along a state highway.

Gregory E. DiLoreto, P.E., LS., F.ASCE, chief executive officer at the publicly owned Tualatin Valley Water District (TVWD) in the Portland, OR, metro area, was recently installed as president of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).

Load and resistance factor design methodology developed by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials plays a key role in a proposed ASTM standard on the design of culverts and storm drains.

The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) has approved financial assistance totaling $60,695,198 as follows:

The National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA), the Water Environment Federation (WEF), and the Association of Clean Water Administrators (ACWA) along with local utilities and others in the clean water community came together to celebrate 40 years of accomplishments under the Clean Water Act (CWA) and to call for a new vision to ensure further water quality progress.

The trustees that comprise the board of the newly established National Teamsters Pipeline Pension Fund met on Sept. 28 at the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) in Washington, DC, to discuss final stages for setting up the fund and other organizational matters. This pension fund will provide benefits for Teamsters who are pipeline workers.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced four new OSHA Training Institute (OTI) Education Centers and the renewal of 24 existing OTI Education Centers. Current OTI Education Centers offer training courses on OSHA standards and occupational safety and health issues.

Improving the quality of wastewater service is daunting in the face of the challenges posed by aging of the networks of pipes and pumping stations; over 800,000 miles of water pipe and 600,000 miles of wastewater infrastructure with some components over 100 years old.

E&M Supply Group has a large inventory of Heavy Wall 4 ½-inch IF drill stem that is best suited for tough maxi-rig drilling conditions.

Weiler Corporation offers a full assortment of high performance, American made wire brushes engineered specifically for use on 4 ½-inch right angle grinders.

Two new roller skids center the VeriSight Pro push camera in 6- and 8-inch lines, and maximize its range by reducing pushing friction.

Electrofusion requires a clean surface and Reed offers a lightweight, reliable, and economical PE Scraper to get the job done.

The new Trailblazer series of engine-driven welder/generators — the Trailblazer 275 and Trailblazer 325 — are designed to reduce fuel use by as much as 35 percent.

TT Technologies is now offering the latest line of Prime Drilling HDD drill rigs ranging in size from 72,000 pounds through 135,000 pounds of pullback.

Carbon fiber fabric and lightweight honeycomb materials, plus mobile manufacturing platform, make infinite pipeline technology cheaper and greener while boosting local economies.

Advertisers from the print edition of <em>Underground Construction</em>, December 2012, Vol. 67 No. 12.

CUES, a leading manufacturer of CCTV inspection, rehabilitation, pipe profiling and pipeline inspection/asset management software announced the opening of a Midwest region service branch.

On June 28, a sinkhole appeared on 92nd Street near Third Avenue in Brooklyn, NY. The sinkhole, west of the sidewalk, caused 11 families to be evacuated from the nearby Bay Ridge apartment building. The block of 92nd Street between Third Avenue and Ridge Boulevard was closed to traffic as emergency crews from the city’s Department of Environmental Protection inspected the sinkhole. Crews worked to stabilize the 70-foot deep sinkhole and began planning a repair.

Cable laying equipment from Roose Mfg., Condux Intl., General Machine Products, Felling Trailers, Ditch Witch, Toro, Slabach Enterprises, Dura-Line, Kiefer Mfg. and Vermeer.

Rubber tire trenchers from Ditch Witch, Vermeer, Astec Underground and Mid America Trenchers.

The Northeast Trenchless Association (NTA), the nation’s most active regional trenchless industry organization, is closing out a busy 2012 and preparing for the association’s 2013 annual meeting in January.

NASSCO, the National Association of Sewer Service Companies, recently conducted its first-ever Pipeline Assessment Certification Program (PACP) course in Spanish. Held in Bogotá, Colombia, on Oct. 17-18, the instruction included the recently-translated PACP manual and training materials.

In 2013, the RehabZone will be an integral part of the annual Underground Construction Technology International Conference & Exhibition (UCT) to be held Jan. 29-31 in Houston, TX.

Organizations exhibiting their products and services along with underground construction professionals that serve the broad range of utility construction and rehabilitation markets, are eagerly anticipating the 2013 Underground Construction Technology International Conference & Exhibition (UCT) Jan. 29-31, at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston.

A front-locating accessory kit that effectively tracks the underground location of pneumatic piercing tools has been introduced by HammerHead Trenchless Equipment.

RST Global Communications, LLC (RST), based in Shelby, N.C., has completed the first phase of its Real Fiber Network, an underground, 100 percent fiber-optic network that includes backbone, middle and last mile installation.

For some time now, horizontal directional drilling (HDD) has been capable of replacing open-cut construction on segments of many projects. The benefits of HDD are well known -- it can minimize excavation, dust pollution, and reduce damage to surface improvements which can significantly lower time-consuming and costly restoration of surface damage.

The Turkish Society for Infrastructure and Trenchless Technology (TSITT) held the No Dig Turkey 2012 Conference in Sanliurfa, Turkey, on Oct. 2-3, with the valuable support of the International Society of Trenchless Technology. Many local and international participants attended this unique trenchless event.

A recent project to install more than 6,200 feet of electrical transmission lines in Orange Beach, AL, included multiple challenges, including two intersecting horizontal directional drilling (HDD) pilot holes beneath Wolf Bay inter-coastal waterway channel to complete a single crossing.

On Sunday, April 8, a water main beneath the Boise River near East 52nd Street burst when a dislodged tree floating in the river crashed into it. Immediately, water to supply hundreds of homes in the Plantation neighborhood of Garden City, a suburb of Boise, ID, was disrupted. The city worked quickly to patch the damaged pipe, which was originally installed in the riverbed during the 1970s, but knew a more permanent solution was needed.

As I write this column, it has been about two weeks since the presidential election. In conversations with many industry people, the topic is always what lies ahead for the next four years and can we still transition into a reasonably healthy business environment?

The results of the November presidential and congressional elections portend "more of the same" with regard to issues of interest to the gas transmission industry. Current regulatory dockets already underway will continue along their current track. Those dockets concern greenhouse gas emissions, the integrity management program and fracking.