The benefits of pipe bursting are far
reaching. The method has been used in Europe for nearly 20 years
and has become very popular in the United States over the last
several years. Often times, the most celebrated benefits of pipe
bursting go unnoticed. And that’s usually by design. Recent
travelers of a section of expressway near Chicago, for example,
had no idea that an 8-in. sanitary sewer line was being replaced
underneath the busy roadway. That was exactly what the crew of
LoVerde Construction was hoping for.
NUCA contractor LoVerde Construction,
Wheeling, Illinois, has been pipe bursting for over four years.
They have successfully completed thousands of feet of bursting.
That made them the perfect contractor to replace and upsize 1,900
linear feet of deteriorating VCP sanitary sewer for the Village
of Northfield, Illinois.
Approximately 300 linear feet of the
sewer rehabilitation project ran directly underneath the section
of I-94 known as the Edens Expressway. Open cutting the expressway
would not be possible. Only a trenchless option would be considered.
According to George LoVerde, President
of LoVerde Construction, pipe bursting was well suited for this
job for several reasons. He said, "Open cut trenching was
an alternative, but very costly due to trench backfill and spoil
removal. Several 75 year-old evergreen trees would have also been
threatened by an open cut project. The Village did not want to
loose those trees. And, of course, the section under the expressway
was an ideal spot for pipe bursting."
According to Anthony LoVerde, Vice
President of Loverde Construction, pipe bursting also provided
the crew a trenchless means to increase the diameter of the existing
pipe. Pipe bursting is the only method of trenchless pipe replacement
that allows for the replacement of the old line with the same
size diameter pipe or larger diameter.
In order to upsize the existing 8-in.
VCP with 10-in. HDPE, Anthony LoVerde used a 10-in. diameter Grundocrack Gigant pneumatic pipe bursting tool from TT Technologies, Aurora,
Illinois. The tool was equipped with a 15-in. rear expander. A
20-ton constant tension winch was also used to guide the tool
through the existing clay pipe.
According to TT Technologies Pipe Bursting
Specialist Ben Cocogliato, proper tool configuration was essential
to the project’s success. Cocogliato said, "The Gigant
was fitted with a 15-in. bolt-on rear expander. As the tool moves
through the old line, that expander helps create enough space
for the new HDPE and helps displace the fragments of the old pipe
into the surrounding soil."
The crew also faced some rather difficult
soil conditions during the bursts. Anthony LoVerde explained,
"The soil in the area is very tough clay. In addition, we
were working at an average depth of 14-ft. Those factors made
this job particularly challenging."
After digging launch and exit pits
on either side of the expressway, the crew positioned a 20-ton
constant tension winch on the far side of the roadway. They also
fused together the 300 ft. of HDPE needed for the run. Anthony
LoVerde said, "The launch and exits pits were approximately
16 ft. x 18 ft., which isn’t bad when you consider what could
have been with a non-trenchless application."
Travelers on the Edens were unaware
that the 8-in. sewer line under the expressway was being replaced
as they drove over. The burst went extremely well, taking just
under 3 hours, start to finish. The rest of the project was completed
over the course of several weeks. George LoVerde said, "We
were very pleased with the results, as was the project engineer.
There was no disruption to the expressway traffic and the 75 year-old
evergreen trees are doing just fine."
Utility Contractor,
December 1999, Page 24
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