Latest Articles

Editor's Log: Tragedy Can Create Positive Change

As an industry, we talk a lot these days about the importance and value of damage prevention. Safety is included in the conversation. Accidental deaths in the construction industry, particularly the underground segment, have fallen sharply over the past decade.

Digging Safe Is No Accident

As a professional excavator, if you are digging or placing any object in the ground, you are required to get marks indicating the location of underground utilities. The person doing the excavating is the person that has to make the call.

RehabZone A Home Run For UCT Attendees

New faces, familiar faces, all with smiles and a thumbs-up thank you.

That’s how Daniel Magill describes the 2013 RehabZone at the annual Underground Construction Technology International Conference & Exhibition (UCT) held in Houston the last week of January.

Right Time, Right Place For Piercing Tools

Among the longest-established trenchless installation methods is the use of pneumatic piercing tools: an option that has been providing contractors with a cost-effective and easy-to-use alternative to trenching for nearly half a century. Water, gas, sewer and electrical interests have all benefited from this established and proven underground method, which also serves as an efficient alternative to larger directional drilling equipment. As is the case with nearly every installation approach, piercing tools are most effective when used in specific situations.

Company Finds Many Applications For Hydro-Excavating

Even the most highly visible public works projects depend on improvements to and protection of the invisible underground infrastructure. That’s what keeps Goliath Hydro-Vac Inc. busy. The 10-year-old contracting firm based in Jordan, MN, uses a fleet of hydro-excavating trucks from Vactor Manufacturing to tackle a variety of construction and remediation projects that require special attention to existing underground infrastructure.

PLM Unveils VOLTEK SYSTEMS Powerline Proximity Device

PipeLine Machinery International (PLM) announces the latest innovation to be added to its pipeline solutions line-up — the VOLTEK SYSTEMS family of High Voltage Safety Devices manufactured by United Safety Inc.

Priorities In Dealing With Gas Line Hits

While some projects are more dangerous than others, most construction work involves risks that can cause serious injury and death.

Lining Systems: Rehab Spotlight

Lining systems including CIPP, grout-in-place pipe, folded pipe and spirally wound pipe.

New Technology Leads To Successful Electric Transmission Project

Since the first building in Houston, TX, was air conditioned in 1923, media has often dubbed the city, “the air conditioning capital of the world.” With summer temperatures often exceeding 100 degrees Fahrenheit, it’s no wonder that Houstonians are concerned about reliable electricity to keep the units running.

Layne Christensen Reveals $80 Million Heavy Civil Construction Project

Layne Christensen Company recently announced that Layne Heavy Civil will design and construct a wastewater collection and transmission project for the Cudjoe Regional Wastewater System in Monroe County, FL. The agreement was signed with the Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority (FKAA) which is acting as the program manager on behalf of the Monroe County Commission, which is funding the project.