Challenges of an Aerial Lake Crossing

Water services to the Excelon power plant play a vital role in ensuring the integrity of the local power grid. When the time came to improve the water infrastructure feeding the plant by adding an additional water main, the ability to do so while maintaining services was critical.

Enhancing the degree of difficulty was the fact that the power plant's water supply was shared by multiple stakeholders, which required significant coordination.  Additionally, trenchless designs were required as the project involved TxDOT and railroad crossings, as well as working in close proximity to the existing water lines.

Project Metrics

Additional emergency design services were required when a critical service tie-in point was discovered to actually be capped off at a dead-end.

Trenchless design services were provided: open-cut construction of 3,475 LF of 6- to 12-inch water lines, and jack and bore of 545 LF of 12-inch DIP water line in a steel casing.

Completing the project required a phased approach as water services to the power plant could not be interrupted.