The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) engaged Granite Construction Company, a leading engineering, procurement, and construction firm (EPC), to expand Highway 288 in southeastern Texas.
Granite needed to locate all utility lines on the site before the construction of a bridge and major highway expansion in the Texas wetlands, but swampy terrain and a high water table made traditional locating methods impossible and rendered GPR sensing alone ineffective.
Date:
February 2023
Location:
Houston, Texas
Acres:
Scan Days:
Platform:
Cart
Exodigo correctly identified two ~30-foot-deep gas lines for Granite, including a crude oil pipe, which was approximately 4.5 feet from its recorded location.
Based on the line’s location in the records, TxDOT had expected 10–15 feet of clearance from their drill point for a test bore they had conducted to assess soil conditions. It turns out that the line was missed by only 3-4 feet per Exodigo’s findings.
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Exodigo correctly identified two ~30-foot-deep gas lines for Granite, including a crude oil pipe, which was approximately 4.5 feet from its recorded location. Based on the line’s location in the records, TxDOT had expected 10–15 feet of clearance from their drill point for a test bore they had conducted to assess soil conditions. It turns out that the line was missed by only 3-4 feet per Exodigo’s findings.
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Exodigo detected an eastern utility line that was not identified by previous locators or listed on records. The line was running parallel to Granite’s proposed bridge foundation; locating it provided peace of mind that it was not in the construction pathway.
“It is crucial that we know where underground lines are so that we can anticipate conflicts with the proposed designs ahead of time. In difficult wetlands conditions, Exodigo’s technology found lines that GPR and other traditional methods did not. Especially when dealing with oil and gas pipes, precise knowledge makes a big difference, since utility strikes are bad for the environment, bad for our crew, and bad for the bottom line.”
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