Matt HerzelGeoEngineers’ Pipelines Business Unit is beginning fieldwork for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline Project (ACP), an approximately 600-mile natural gas transmission pipeline that promises to deliver cleaner energy and economic expansion to the Mid-Atlantic region.
The ACP will stretch from West Virginia to eastern North Carolina and includes several lateral extensions to important electric power plants in Virginia. According to Dominion Energy, the developer of the ACP, natural gas produces half the emissions of coal and is estimated to lower energy costs for consumers in the region by hundreds of millions each year.
Dominion Energy asked GeoEngineers to provide horizontal directional drill (HDD) and Direct Pipe® project management, consulting and observation, drone surveillance, electronic data services and additional subconsultant support for the project’s 30 trenchless pipeline installations along the route.
“We are excited to provide these services to the ACP and Dominion teams and to support this incredibly important pipeline project,” said Gary Castleberry, a senior consultant with GeoEngineers and HDD program manager for the project. “Every one of the many proposed trenchless installations along the ACP route is unique; we enjoy the challenges associated with finding the safest and most efficient technical approach for each one.”
Trenchless installation refers to construction methods for installing pipelines in areas where traditional open-cut construction (digging a conventional trench for the pipeline) would not be permitted, practical or possible. Examples of typical trenchless construction applications include pipeline crossings under highways and railways, rivers and lakes, steep slopes, environmentally sensitive areas, city streets and other developed areas.
The ACP is the latest of many high-profile trenchless projects for the firm. GeoEngineers’ experts have completed more than one million feet of trenchless segments, and hundreds of horizontal directional drilled (HDD) pipeline crossings throughout the United States, Central and South America, Asia and Africa. Trenchless Technology magazine has named GeoEngineers one of the nation’s top 25 design firms for trenchless technology for nearly a decade.
“We’re proud to be one of the United States’ leading trenchless engineering firms,” said Mark Miller, GeoEngineers’ pipeline business unit leader. “It’s a testament to the deep pool of talent and experience represented on our team. Not only are we overseeing a lot of trenchless designs, but clients will often seek out GeoEngineers for particularly challenging or long crossings. We’re at our best when the degree of difficulty is highest.”
