What is Trenchless Technology?

It’s one of the ways FUSED Civil serves our clients, but what is trenchless technology? For people who don’t work in construction day in and day out (and even for some who do) the phrase can be a bit confusing. At FUSED, we believe work runs more smoothly when everyone is on the same page and understands a project’s particulars. We’ve pulled together a quick overview aimed at helping fill people in on this high-tech approach to civil construction.

What is Trenchless Technology?
The term refers to a construction technique where crews complete underground work such as dry auguring or horizontal directional drilling (HDD) with minimal aboveground impact. Day-to-day business and traffic patterns can continue as usual while, at the same time, repair or replacement work helps ensure the ongoing health of a community’s infrastructure. The name comes from the fact that there is no digging — hence, no trench — required to get the job done.

What Are the Benefits of Trenchless Technology?
Besides using advanced technologies that are, simply put, a lot of fun, trenchless technology carries a range of benefits. Here are a few reasons companies might opt for this approach:

• Smaller construction footprints lead to a lower environmental impact and less disturbance to aboveground businesses, residential areas and the like.
• Less digging means quicker completion — and, oftentimes, lower project costs.
• The earth surrounding dig sites recovers more quickly than with traditional methods, since trenchless technology only requires one or two drilled holes.

How Does FUSED Civil Put Trenchless Technology to Work?
As technologies surrounding this construction technique advance, our crew will continue incorporating it into the way we serve our civil construction clients. At the present, we mainly put it to use for the following projects:

• Dry Auguring/ Slurry Bores/ Pipe Jacking
• Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD)
• Tunnel Boring Methods (TBM)
• Micro-Tunneling (MTBM)

We hope this explainer helps to shed some light on this increasingly popular approach to construction! If you have further questions, or if you’d like FUSED Civil’s help with an upcoming project, feel free to get in touch. We would love to hear from you!