News
Water Pipes under the M1 27 June 2007
Innovative engineering practice Pick Everard will employ advanced tunnelling techniques when it re-routes water pipes crossing the M1 for Severn Trent Water.
Two water pipes - a trunk main carrying drinking water to a distribution point and a local feed pipe - currently pass over the motorway near junction 26. The Highways Agency has decided to remove a footbridge as part of a major road widening scheme, so the water pipes have to be moved - without interrupting the supply to customers. Engineers from Pick Everard will use micro-tunnelling techniques to bore two holes under the motorway, without stopping the traffic, and then feed the replacement pipes through them. Once they have connected the new pipes to the existing supply, the flow of water has been transferred and continuity of supply has been assured, the old pipes will be decommissioned as part of the removal of the footbridge.
“The most demanding part of the job will be probably be the ground conditions,” said Ruth Taylor, Associate at Pick Everard and one of the engineering team. “Ensuring that water pressure is maintained once pipes are installed is also a challenge, as is making sure we don’t stop the traffic on the M1.” The project is currently in the site assessment and viability stage, and the work is expected to be carried out toward the end of 2007.
