Construction Practices Critical to the Success of World Record Horizontal Directional Drill

The increasing population growth in southwest Florida area, particularly the City of Cape Coral and Fort Meyers, has created the demand for the environmentally responsible treatment and reuse of the community’s wastewater. These two communities have collaborated to construct a state-of-the-art, tertiary wastewater treatment and reuse water transmission system. This reuse initiative will contribute to the reduction of over 50 t of excess nutrient loads in the surrounding environment and bodies of water. A key component of this system is a 1.5-mi long (2.3 km), 24-in. (610 mm) polyvinyl chloride (PVC) subaqueous horizontal directional drill (HDD) crossing of the Caloosahatchee River. Achieving such a significant engineering milestone within a mere 35-h pullback was made possible by the exceptional teamwork displayed by all project stakeholders from the project’s inception. This paper will detail the challenges and the innovative means and methods utilized to accomplish record breaking 7,630-ft (2,325 m) HDD installation of 24-in. (610 mm) DR18 Fusible PVC (FPVC) pipe.