Bessac Andina has used pipe jacking to install GRP pipes for the first time.
The project, carried out in partnership with general contractor Mario Alberto Huertas Cotes on behalf of the Urban Development Institute, is part of the TransMilenio works on Bogotá’s North Highway and involved pipe jacking under the busy highway in the Colombian capital.
Bessac Andina director Frédéric Sega said that during the operation traffic flows on the highway were uninterrupted.
“Citizens didn’t even notice that we were installing two large pipes under the freeway,” he said.
The work covered several areas, including the TransMilenio on Highway North, Carrera 9 and a railway line.
It was carried out in two main stages – first, construction of two launch shafts and two reception shafts to facilitate drilling operations and pipe laying, and then the installation of GRP pipes with diameters from 1000-1200mm using trenchless technology with the pipe jacking micro-tunnelling system.
Bessac Andina is adopting trenchless technology to reduce its carbon footprint compared with conventional digging methods. It says pipe jacking is in line with pillar 1 of its environmental roadmap: “act now by changing the way we work to integrate the environment into our production processes”.
The advantages of pipe jacking include reduced excavation of materials, preservation of existing infrastructure, and reduced noise and dust emissions.
