UNI 200x240 Drills Beneath Six-Lane Motorway

When the Ghella Abergeldie Joint Venture, overseeing the Central Interceptor project in Auckland, New Zealand, approached Universal Underground with the challenge of installing a precisely graded pipe beneath a six-lane motorway in peat terrain filled with logs and stumps, UUL's response was unconventional.

While the project necessitated the benefits associated with a Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) method, the condition was that it should eliminate the risk of abandoning the machine in case of encountering timber obstructions. After two and a half years of design work, dealing with a nervous motorway authority, navigating super-soft ground with sporadic hard obstructions, and the insistence on a precisely graded pipe, UUL faced suggestions to transition to less risky endeavors.

Despite the challenges, Ghella Abergeldie Joint Venture recognized that UUL's solutions effectively addressed all stakeholders' concerns and presented the best chance of success using UNI 200x240. In tackling unique problems, UUL adopted unique solutions, overcoming three attempts to navigate past timber obstructions and implementing some unconventional Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) practices. Against the odds, UUL successfully completed the project.