Trenchless Technology Success Story: Pipe Ramming

The City of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, tackled a trenchless sanitary sewer crossing of a major Interstate Highway as part of a project to address condition and capacity issues in 2012. Trenchless methods are often dictated by soil conditions and the overall length of the crossing and in this case those factors led to the selection of a method previously unused by the City; pipe ramming. The success story presented will be a discussion on an analysis of alternatives used on similar projects, the process and lessons learned as construction progressed, and the final results for two 1200 mm (48 in.) diameter pipe rams, one 24 m (80 ft) long and one 105 m (340 ft) long, completed in 26 days.