The American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) Missouri chapter honored GeoEngineers’ Direct Pipe® crossing of the Sabine Neches Waterway with a Grand Award at their annual Engineering Excellence Award Banquet on Friday night. This is the latest recognition for the award-winning Sabine Neches project, which demonstrated a new standard of excellence for trenchless design.
GeoEngineers provided geotechnical and trenchless engineering design along with construction monitoring services for the Sabine Neches project, which was the first Direct Pipe crossing of a levee regulated by the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the longest Direct Pipe crossing in North America at the time of completion.
“I’m proud of our GeoEngineers team who made it possible for us to accept our seventh ACEC Missouri Engineering Excellence Award in eight years,” said Principal Geotechnical Engineer Jon Robison. “Working on this project was especially satisfying because we were able to help our client find a solution that not only benefitted their business, but the public safety as well.”
The 48-inch-diameter pipeline stretches for more than half a mile under the Sabine Neches Waterway, a levee and railroad tracks in Port Arthur, Texas. The usual choice of trenchless construction—horizontal directional drilling (HDD)—wasn’t feasible because HDD could not meet the USACE safety standards designed to protect the levee and public. By thinking creatively and building upon its prior innovations in Direct Pipe design, GeoEngineers combined different approaches to trenchless technology and design to come up with a new solution.