Suggested Practices for Installations Using Horizontal Directional Drilling

In recent years, the utilization of horizontal directional drilling (HDD) in urban areas for the installation of telecommunication, utilities, or municipal services has experienced a rapid growth. The hazards and complexity of working in urbanized areas, together with the ever increasing volume of construction activities, make the development of suggested practices much needed for engineers and inspectors whose primary responsibility is to oversee the project to a safe and successful completion. This paper presents suggested practices for underground installations of pipelines and conduits using HDD technology. Written feedback from numerous consulting engineers, contractors, owners, and research institutions in North America were solicited in the development of this paper. Contracting and construction aspects of HDD projects including design rules-of-thumb are incorporated to provide designers with the necessary tools for enhancing the probability of a successful HDD project. Topics include contract considerations, contractor bid submission, site evaluation, preconstruction, drilling operations, drilling fluid collection and disposal, site restoration, construction, and postconstruction evaluation. Additionally, provisions for measurement and payment are presented and discussed.