May 2015, Vol. 70, No.5
Features
Auger Boring In -40 Degrees
Last winter, crews of Points Athabasca Contracting LP were laboring in the sub-zero weather to replace old drainage pipe along the highway between Melville and Regina in the Canadian Province of Saskatchewan for the Saskatchewan Department of Highways and Transportation.
Old 24-inch diameter pipe was replaced with new 30-inch diameter spiral-wound welded pipe. Excavators dug through the frozen ground as two auger boring machines cut the pipe’s path beneath roads. The route of the project covered more than 37 miles and included installation of the new pipe, rehabilitation of culverts, grout backfilling of the old culverts and placement of rip rap. Erosion control matting and grass will be seeded when weather permits.
Wind chills reached in excess minus 40 degrees, said Mel DeForest, manager of underground construction services for Points Athabasca.
“We are equipped for working through the winter,” DeForest said. “For personnel, we have tarp shelters and frost fighter heaters. We carry our own gas generators to operate the heaters.”
But pits were not heated. For the most part, crews working in the pit were exposed to the elements and dressed accordingly. Tarps were used to enclose air cooled engines and tents were erected and heated to keep the metal pipe warm enough for welding. All of the liquid cooled engines are equipped with electric block heaters and plugged into generators when not running. Excavation was done with two John Deere excavators (models 350 and 270). Auger boring was used to take pipe under roads with minimal interruption to the more than 4,000 vehicles that used the highway each day.
In all, 22 bores were made, ranging in length from 85 to 105 feet. Average depth ranged from approximately four feet to 8-feet below the highway surface.
“The frost line was six and a half feet, and drilling through the frost wasn’t a problem,” DeForest said. “However, below that, conditions were slush and at times the bore path was along the frost line through both frost and slush, and that made steering difficult.”
Equipment
Two American Augers boring machines were used on the project: a Model 36-600 and 60-1200. The 35-600 is powered by a 116-horsepower diesel engine. Maximum thrust force is 600,000 pounds and maximum output torque is 107,257 foot pounds. The 60-1200 is powered by a 174-horsepower diesel engine; Maximum thrust is rated at 1.2 million pounds output torque and 108,832 foot pounds.
Both models have rack and pinion drive and are designed with split frames for separating the machine into sections to facilitate placement into and out of pits.
DeForest said auger boring had not been widely used in Saskatchewan.
“Although auger boring has been done in past years in Saskatchewan,” said DeForest, “an aging highway infrastructure and flood conditions has brought a vast increase in its utilization.
“It started gaining popularity in the province about five years ago. Contractors from outside the province came in and made some bores, and public utilities have been slowly accepting it. We are one of the first companies within the province to offer auger boring services. The majority of our competition is still from out of province. Of course, the big benefit from boring is to prevent closing roads and the highway department has accepted it now, so demand will increase.”
Company roots
Points Athabasca’s utility work primarily is focused on water drainage and sanitary sewer work, and the company is active in many other areas, including surface infrastructure development and construction, site services and maintenance, concrete batching supply and finishing, and underground mine construction and maintenance (Saskatchewan is the world’s largest exporter of uranium and potash). The company also is a source of skilled labor for other contractors and organizations.
Points Athabasca has an impressive portfolio of completed projects for a wide range of clients, testimony of its capabilities and commitment to excellence for every project it undertakes.
However, the company is about much more than construction. Points Athabasca is an Aboriginal-owed contracting company strongly committed to the people whose ancestors lived in the area thousands of years ago and established communities long before the first Europeans arrived.
“At our core, we are about people,” DeForest emphasized. “We believe in building beyond the project, and our slogan ‘Building Capacity’ speaks to our high level of commitment to engaging people in the local communities. Our track record of success in partnering with local communities through support of local businesses, and training, mentoring and employing local people, has made a lasting impact on the communities in which we work.”
Based in Saskatoon, Points Athabasca designs, builds, operates and maintains projects across Western Canada.
Seventy-five percent of the company is owned by Athabasca Basin Development, an investment company owned by the seven communities in Northern Saskatchewan’s Athabasca region that is committed to building and investing in successful businesses. The other 25 percent is owned by the Graham Group, an employee owned family of companies with offices throughout Canada. Graham works with local subcontractors and suppliers in support of the communities where projects are built.
“Our vision,” concluded DeForest, “is to be the premier Aboriginal contracting company, proudly building capacity and regional prosperity.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Points Athabasca Contracting LP, (306) 242-4927, http://pointsathabasca.ca
American Augers, (800) 324-4930, http://www.americanaugers.com
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