November 2019 Vol. 74 No. 11

The Common Ground Alliance (CGA), the stakeholder-driven organization dedicated to protecting underground utility lines, people who dig near them and their communities, recently announced its findings from the 2018 Damage Information Reporting Tool (DIRT) Report.

Global demand for natural gas and the infrastructure necessary to deliver it is set to keep growing over the next five years, with ongoing increases in demand across underdeveloped Asian economies and the continued development of international gas trade.

Communities large and small across the United States are facing a hidden crisis – failing underground water and sewer pipes.

Kimberly Paggioli, P.E. While rain is often a welcome sight along the western shore of Lake Michigan, some Mequon, Wis., residents and business owners began to eye the prospect of precipitation with dread. After numerous hazardous and costly sanitary sewer backups, it was clear that a plan of acti..

Data is everywhere – even buried in soil. It’s no longer just a Silicon Valley buzzword, but rather something tangible that contractors working in underground infrastructure installation and maintenance can harness for safer and more efficient operations.

Ceremony, Additional Activities Planned for the First-Ever HDD Reunion Always the inventor, Dick Melsheimer was simply trying to help a contractor friend solve a utility installation challenge. Martin Cherrington, another innovator, knew that there had to be a better way to cross a river with a pip..

I recently attended the annual meeting of the Industry Advisory Board for the Trenchless Technology Center (TTC) at Louisiana Tech University. It’s something I’ve been involved with for decades and thoroughly enjoy. Networking with industry experts, learning of cutting-edge research and discussing a..

Federal officials are recommending stronger nationwide requirements for natural gas systems following last September's natural gas explosions and fires in Massachusetts.

Rhode Island officials finally have an end in sight for a $1.5 billion system of tunnels to prevent tainted stormwater from entering Narragansett Bay, following federal funding approval to help complete the project

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has released guidance by the Environment staff of its Office of Energy Projects to help industry professionals improve the quality and consistency of their HDD plans.

Volunteers have been going door-to-door in Newark, N.J., to help sign up thousands of residents to have their corroding lead service lines replaced.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has fined an excavation company for the deaths of two Colorado workers in a collapsed trench.

Lane Construction said it won its first contract in the state of Washington—construction of a water storage tunnel to reduce polluted overflows into Seattle’s Lake Washington Ship Canal.

ASTM International said its committee on plastic pipe systems is developing a proposed standard to be used in the rehabilitation of water mains.

The Trump administration revoked an Obama-era regulation that shielded many U.S. wetlands and streams from pollution but was opposed by developers and farmers who said it hurt economic development and infringed on property rights.

Aqua Pennsylvania Acquires Delaware County Wastewater Assets

West Europe’s euNetworks Group said it has built new duct-based, high-fiber-count networks in the cities of Milan and Madrid that cover areas of high bandwidth demand, including the financial districts and Silicon Alley of Madrid, as well as directly connecting the key data centers.

The city of Cranbrook, British Columbia’s 2019 Capital Works Program is wrapping up with the recent completion of the sewer relining project in the downtown area.

A new virtual reality training module for natural gas leak emergency first responders is now available for use by the industry.

NI Water has completed a $5.5 million (5 million euro) upgrade of major sewers within the city center of Belfast, Northern Ireland, to reduce flooding and improve water quality in the River Lagan.

The federal government is giving one Louisiana parish a $4 million grant to help improve the water infrastructure.

Two guides detailing the steps for electrofusing joints and couplings for HDPE pipelines are available from the Plastics Pipe Institute, Inc. (PPI).

Maretta Faye Tubb, a former Underground Construction contributing editor commonly known as Rita, died Sept. 27 at age 80.

Pressure pipe renewal technologies are designed for a variety of applications, from AWWA Class I corrosion barriers to fully structural, Class IV solutions. The main objective is to extend the service life of the pressure pipe system, while minimizing the carbon footprint and disruption to water supply.

Years after receiving congressional directives to change safety laws – and similar suggestions from the National Transportation Safety Administration – the federal pipeline safety agency finally issued two major rules: one directed at interstate gas pipelines and the other at hazardous liquids pipelines.

The Environmental Protection Agency wants to relieve the gas transmission industry from compliance with 2012 and 2016 Clean Air Act standards related to volatile organic chemicals (VOC) and greenhouse gases, chiefly methane.

Doosan Infracore North America LLC, expanded its network by adding three more dealers as authorized sales, service, parts and rental providers of Doosan equipment.

unitedrentals.com; ABetterWorksite.com United Rentals, the world’s largest equipment-rental company, launched a new business-to-business brand campaign. “A Better Worksite is Here,” with TV, website, contextual out-of-home and targeted digital media components, shines a light on how to improve work..

woolpert.com; geomaticsdatasolutions.com Woolpert acquired Geomatics Data Solutions (GDS), a company with 10 years of experience collecting, processing and performing quality control of hydrographic lidar, topographic lidar, acoustic survey data and traditional land-based survey data. The acquisit..

geophysical.com GSSI, a leading manufacturer of ground penetrating radar (GPR) equipment, established a distribution partnership with Blinken Tools AB. Headquartered in Karlstad, Sweden, Blinken delivers rotary lasers, piping and cross/line lasers, GNSS equipment, UAV drones and other equipment to ..

lan-inc.com Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam Inc. (LAN) received two Project of the Year awards from the American Public Works Association-Texas chapter. One project, Houston Emergency Water Supply Shutdown, was recognized under the “Disaster or Emergency Construction/Repair” category. It involved worki..

General Machine Products (KT) LLC (GMP) appointed Cleaves-Bessmer-Marietti Inc. (CBM) as its manufacturer’s representative for the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa.

crosscountryis.com Cross Country Infrastructure Services Inc., a leading equipment and supplies provider to the construction industry, acquired Five Star Equipment Leasing & Rental, LLC, an established equipment rental player in the central U.S. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed..

epiroc.us; miningandconstructionusa.com Epiroc USA, a Bloomfield, Colo., leading productivity partner for the mining and infrastructure industries, opened a new Regional Service Center in Harrisburg, Penn. Supporting customers in the Northeast U.S., the new center features a state-of-the-art servic..

nuca.com; wymanassocaites.net The National Utility Contractors Association (NUCA) and E. Wyman Associates LLC established a partnership to provide outstanding representation and federal advocacy services for America’s utility and excavation contractors. Eben Wyman, principal of Wyman Associates, h..

Dave Linenfold joined Ring-O-Matic, manufacturer of industrial vacuum excavation and vac-only machines, and carwash pit cleaners, as director of Engineering & Product Development. He has more than 30 years of construction equipment experience, leading new product development, project timelines and e..

Steve Cianci is the new vice president, North America, at CASE Construction Equipment, based at the Racine, Wisc., headquarters. He brings more than 25 years of leadership experience, managing equipment sales, business development, product management, and parts and service functions of various globa..

Victor Romero, P.E., CPEng., was appointed executive vice president for the Underground Division of McMillen Jacobs Associates. He has been with the company for 28 years. Isabelle Lamb, L.G., has been named managing director of Australia/New Zealand. A native Kiwi, she has a geological/geotechnical..

Nichole Francis Reynolds joined INGAA’s leadership team as vice president of Government and Public Affairs. She is responsible for managing the U.S. natural gas pipeline association’s strategy, which focuses on three priorities: protecting the safety, reliability, and resilience of the pipeline syst..

Patrick Vibien, P.Eng., was appointed to leadership roles overseeing three areas of The Plastics Pipe Institute Inc. (PPI). As technical director he guides the U.S. Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to ISO TC 138, and serves as the liaison with industry organizations and spokesperson on technical matte..

augertech.net Powered either manually or with an impact wrench (not provided), Auger Technologies’ Bullet Tooth Puller removes conical auger teeth – even the most stubborn – safely and in a fraction of the time normally required, saving time and money. Augers with worn teeth that are stuck fast can..

Caterpillar has added a new Mini Hydraulic Excavator line with the first 6-ton offering.

cementech.com Cemen Tech’s all-new Utility Package is specially designed for utility contractors with a need for standard concrete, flowable fill or specialty mixes. Deluxe features and capabilities include the ability to fill micro-trenches, pour multiple types of concrete or grout with the same u..

cetco.com CETCO’s QUAD-POWER is a line of super concentrated drilling fluids to be used for short-distance, small-diameter HDD bores. This easy-to-use, color-coded, polymer drilling system allows utility contractors to quickly and efficiently drill through various soil types by simply adding the ap..

ditchwitch.com Ditch Witch, a Charles Machine Works Company, introduced several underground construction products and solutions.  The newest evolution of its directional drills, JT 24 is powerful – with a 101-gross horsepowe..

felling.com Felling Trailers’ Self-Loading Turret Reel trailer, has a 360-degree hydraulically operated rotating turret assembly that can lock into any position when the directional control valve is released. Keeping mindful of equipment, time and operator safety, the FT-14-2 R Turret’s self-loadin..

hceamericas.com Among the nine machines exhibited at the Hyundai Construction Equipment Americas booth was the HL940TM wheel loader, one of two Tool Master models in its HL900 series product line. The parallel linkage in this 15-ton model’s Tool Master boom design increases lifting capacity, improv..

melfredborzall.com Melfred Borzall’s Eagle Claw S.D. boasts twice as many carbides and tougher teeth than its most popular rock bit, the Eagle Claw.  More specifically, Borzall has taken the three, standard conical cutter te..

numahammers.com Numa’s HDD product line and drilling experts provide the perfect combination for productive and efficient drilling in hard rock and fractured ground formations. This includes a full arsenal of HDD hammers and bits capable of drilling holes 4 inches to 7.5 inches in diameter, and a v..

ridgid.com RIDGID’s new A-Frame Fault Locator makes finding faults in buried conductors easier for electrical contractors, utility repair, municipality and facility maintenance professionals. Designed for incredible accuracy and operator safety, the locator utilizes low voltage to find the exact p..

subsite.com; subsitegreenops.com Subsite Electronics introduced UtiliGuard 2, a new multi-frequency utility locator based on the popular UtiliGuard system. Available in Standard and Advanced models, UtiliGuard 2 takes all the proven performance-boosting features of the original UtiliGuard and adds ..

toro.com The all-new Toro Dingo TXL 2000 consolidates the benefits of several machines into one.  Thanks to telescoping loader arm technology, operators can perform a number of tasks previously unachievable with this class o..

vanair.com Vanair introduced a new, patent-pending Integrated Separator Tank. Its integrated manifolds contain a minimum pressure valve, thermo-valve, thermistors, transducers, pressure regulators, oil filter, ultrasonic oil level sensors and optional cold-weather oil heater. In addition, SAE O-Rin..

vermeer.com; mclaughlinunderground.com Available in early 2020, in select regions, the new Vermeer D23x30DR S3 Navigator horizontal directional drill (HDD) integrates dual-rod technology into a compact machine design to efficiently maneuver through rock in congested cities, busy neighborhoods or ti..

wyoben.com Wyo-Ben Inc., a leading provider of drilling fluids to the horizontal directional drilling (HDD) market, announced a new, mobile app designed to help HDD crews better utilize drilling fluids. The free app, developed in response to customer feedback, includes usage guidelines, cross-refer..

With aging infrastructure and broken sewer lines being common themes that more and more communities are experiencing, Perma-Liner Industries LLC hosted events to share innovative, trenchless technology, and state-of-the-art equipment and materials to tackle these issues in the least disruptive manner.

Burst and replace water, sewer, gas and other pipes with the Grundoburst static pipe bursting system from TT Technologies. The Grundoburst can pull in a variety of replacement pipe including PVC, DIP, ABS, cast iron, fusion-welded HDPE and VCP jacking pipe.

As part of its long-term growth strategy, Quadex LLC, a division of the Vortex Companies, is renaming and positioning its Stag Technologies division as its Materials Development Group.

HDR has developed Condition Assessment and Rehabilitation Guide, a 40-page booklet that outlines tools and technologies for inspection, assessment and renewal of water and wastewater infrastructure.

ASTM International’s committee on plastic piping systems (F17) is developing a proposed standard for replacing old and failing distribution water main pipes.

A report on the sprayed-in-place pipe (SIPP) market, published by Stratview Research, focuses on current trend insights, 2013 to 2018, and predictions for the forecast period of 2019 to 2024.

In 2002, a comprehensive display of various trenchless technologies at the Underground Construction Technology International Conference & Exhibition (UCT) became a reality with the birth of the RehabZone.