Four Trenchless Water Main Installations under an Active Railroad in Southeast Florida

Trenchless technologies are becoming more and more prevalent for pipeline installations; however, they are often far more risky than open cut installations due to the significance of the crossings and the uncertainty of underground utilities and conditions. Railroad tracks are typically crossed via trenchless methods and they are high risk crossings. Engineers perform due diligence, evaluate the pipeline corridors, design the trenchless installations, and then must rely on qualified Contractors to perform the trenchless installations successfully, using their expertise, means and methods, equipment-specific parameters, and best judgement during construction. The Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) is a Class II regional railroad that owns 351-mi of tracks extending from Jacksonville south to Miami, Florida. It connects to the national railway system in Jacksonville, Florida, to moving cargo to and from this location. It is the exclusive provider for PortMiami, Port Everglades, and the Port of Palm Beach, Florida. Recently, additional railroad tracks were run in parallel to the FEC corridor, for the Brightline All Aboard Florida project which now moves cargo and freight and people from central and south Florida. This paper will discuss both horizontal directional drilling (HDD) and jack and bore (J&B) methods of construction for four crossings of the FEC Railroad including: (1) identifying engineering due-diligence and design steps; (2) preliminary evaluations for trenchless methods of construction; (3) providing suggestions for items to document and monitor; (4) providing recommendations for a successfully completed trenchless installation; and (5) discussing potential risks of failure and recovery options.