Pipeline Installation / Cross Bores

Cross bores typically occur when a utility is installed using a trenchless installation method. Trenchless utility installations lead to cross bores because the construction personnel installing a new utility can’t always see what is underground and therefore cannot avoid it.

Hastings Utilities is concerned with situations where a natural gas pipe has been installed through a sewer lateral. A sewer lateral is the privately owned sewer pipe that connects a home or business to the city’s mainline sanitary sewer. The city’s mainline sanitary sewer is the large sewer pipe generally installed underneath the street.

Hastings Utilities prefers to install gas pipe using a trenchless installation method -- called directional boring -- because it limits the invasiveness of construction, especially in developed areas of the city. Directional boring is done by inserting the drill bit at the start and digging a hole at the end. A directional boring machine then drills an underground hole between the two points and pulls the entire pipe segment underground.

In the past, Hastings Utilities installed its gas pipe by digging a trench along the entire length of the pipe.  Directional boring can be safer for the residents in an area compared to having an open trench the entire length of the pipe. Directional boring can also quicker and more cost effective for our customer owners.

If you experience sewer problems after anyone has been using directional boring in your neighborhood, please call Hastings Utilities.  There is a serviceman on call for each department 24 hours a day.

The Cross Bore Safety Association has more information at http://www.crossboresafety.org/index.html