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Peace River Crossing
A phenomenal project completed in Canada by Robbins HDD
machines became one of the longest HDD river crossings ever
made in the world. The drill rig chosen was a Robbins HDD
500,000lb unit. The project was the Northern Expansion
Project oil product pipeline.
The crossing required a 4,864 ft. pullback |
| of three 8 in. steel lines in one bundle.
Federated Pipeline, headquartered in Calgary, Alberta,
called for bids in June of 1997 for two crossings under the
Peace River: one at Taylor, British Columbia and the other
near Dunvegan, Alberta. Loren Trueman, the project
superintendent and Jess Briscoe, the project manager,
decided to name the Robbins HDD rig "The Peacemaker", in
honor of the crossing. While the project was initially two
crossings, 18 crossings were later added, bringing the total
to 20. These added crossings ranged in length from 825 to
2,475ft. The geology consisted of clay, gravel and rock. The
weather conditions were horribly cold, especially in January
when, for a period of three weeks, temperatures dipped to
-43 F. High-pressure steam boilers were used on the rig to
keep it warm and to keep components from freezing. Much of
the equipment and site had to be enclosed.
The more difficult of the two initial crossings was the
Peace River crossing at Taylor, on the Taylor to Beloy
pipeline section. The deepest point of the river crossing
was 250 ft. below the river bottom. J.R. Jameson, of Entee
Consulting Ltd. in Calgary, provided the design and
technical engineering for the river crossing. Jameson said
that to the best of his knowledge, this crossing of the
Peace River is one of the top 10 crossings in the world. |
