These projects, the St. Joseph River crossing in Mishawaka, Indiana, and the crossing of the shipping channel at Port Canaveral, Florida had a number of similarities. Both involved crossing traffic ways and installing numerous critical communications circuits. Both also utilized conduit formations without external casing, using a method of placement developed by Douglas Allman.

The first job was the St. Joseph River crossing for Indiana Bell Telephone Company. Began in June 1993 the project specified a dozen 4 in. ID, high density polyethylene (HDPE) conduits to be placed on a 750 ft. crossing. The profile required an overall depth of 69 ft. and was drilled through blue shale bedrock.

Steering was done with computerized in-head guidance. Above-ground tracking was also provided to give reference to the position of the drill bit along its planned course. Despite severe magnetic interference, which impacted the accuracy of these systems personnel from CBC Welnav of Tustin, California, and ECI managed a near perfect exit.

After the pilot hole was drilled, the crew prepared for the pre-reaming process. Three different size reamers enlarged the pilot hole up to its final 36 diameter.

The HDPE pipe was furnished in twelve 10 ft. diameter reels, each of which yielded a continuous 850 ft. of 5 in. pipe that would provide a jointless and seamless conduit. These ducts were attached to a specialized pulling apparatus, and the drill rig then pulled them back through the borehole.

During pullback, a blended grout was pumped through the drill string in front of the duct formation. This process displaced the bentonite in the annulus of the soil, providing encasement of the 12 HDPE conduits.

A project of this magnitude would normally take months, creating significant disruption to the surrounding community. Even with unforeseen problems below ground near the exit location, this crossing was done in less than three weeks.

This project surpassed all previous multiple duct placements by 56% in length (425 ft.). While becoming the longest, it also became the deepest placement of this type of formation.

The Port Canaveral conditions of sandy clay with some shell fragments provided a much shorter interval to completing this crossing. Nine days were all that were required to drill the pilot hole. Made one pre-ream with a 24. fly cutter, and pulled the seven-duct formation into place. A grout slurry was again injected into the soil, to encase the annulus of the borehole around the conduits during pullback. Pullback lasted a total of two hours.

Coordination at Cape Canaveral became very interesting and complex. The Space Shuttle, Atlas, Titan, and Delta rocket programs are presently active at the cape.

Scheduling of all work activities were required around these flight periods. All personnel were required to obtain clearance and passes to enter the military base. Seventy-two hours prior to flight, restrictions classified as F3, F2, and F1 (three, two and one day prior to flight, respectively) began on construction operations. With each twenty-four hour period before launch, increasingly rigid restrictions on construction were implemented. Twenty-four hours prior to flight, F1 restrictions took effect and all digging ceased. A shovel was not permitted to enter the ground during the F1 interval. Such restrictions were to prevent any disturbance to below ground communications and control circuits.

The pilot hole was completed the morning of July 16. F1 restriction made it possible to be permitted to exit the surface, but no pit was allowed because the Space Shuttle was to lift off at 9:22 a.m., July 17. Clean-up and readying for the pre-ream was worked on through Saturday. Sunday was a day off since once again, F1 was imposed for an Atlas rocket launch on Monday at 6:09 p.m. Monday was spent readying the reels and special pulling apparatus.

On Tuesday July 20, the pre-ream completed. A pit for mud control was dug Monday evening, soon after the Atlas lifted off and Base Command authorized clearance to machine-dig. Wednesday was scheduled for pullback of the ducts. Once again,  ECI was under limited construction activities (F3) since the Shuttle launch from the previous Saturday was re-scheduled for the following Saturday. A waiver was granted and ECI was allowed to pull the duct into the borehole. The crossing was complete at 1:45 p.m.