HYDRO-excavation
technique
Helps Accurately Locate Utilities
by Jason Sweet
For the University of Wisconsin-
Madison East Campus Utility Improvements project, the critical task of utility location was done with hydro-excavation, a technique that uses a high-pressure water stream to break up the soil in roughly half-foot columns while a vacuum removes the soil from the excavation area.
Once utilities are located, the vertical and horizontal data was then entered into a CADD file for incorporation into the design base file. The data was crucial for preventing conflicts between the existing utilities and the proposed utilities and, more importantly, for preventing hazardous situations such as hitting gas or electric lines during construction.
Hydro-excavation is an accurate, low- impact procedure that’ s costeffective as well. Though, as Fred Klingbeil, Ayres Associates vice president and project manager for a portion of the project, pointed out, utility location was such a key factor for this project that well over $ 100,000 was spent on it.
10│TRENDS