Drilling & boring
Auger boring in Savannah
Some crossings are not allowed to curve. A railroad, a state highway or a gravity sewer wants a straight steel casing at an exact elevation, and that is an auger boring machine's job.
Serving Savannah · Chatham County
Davis Underground Solutions, Inc.
Directional drilling and boring across Georgia; locates, bore plan and utility coordination handled. More about Davis Underground Solutions →
Straight, cased and on grade
Picture a pit dug beside the road to the depth of the finished pipe. A track is leveled in the bottom of it, aimed at a target stake on the far side, and the boring machine is set on the track. A length of steel casing goes in front of the machine with a cutting head at its tip and a continuous-flight auger inside. The machine turns the auger and jacks the casing forward at the same time; the head cuts, the auger brings the cuttings back into the pit, and the casing follows into the hole it has just made. A welder joins the next length, and the cycle repeats until the head appears in the receiving pit. Because the casing never leaves the line the track was aimed on, the pipe placed inside it afterward sits exactly where the drawing says, which is the point of the whole exercise for a gravity line.
Savannah crossings that call for it
Norfolk Southern and CSX cross Georgia on main lines and spurs, and both require a cased, jacked crossing with their own engineering sign-off. GDOT asks for a casing under most state routes, and counties often follow suit on arterials. Sewer and storm extensions that pass under a street between manholes need the grade a casing provides. Airports, levees and dam embankments usually forbid any steered bore at all. Each of these is an auger job before it is anything else.
What the ground does to the plan
A standard auger head is built for soil. Under much of the Piedmont around Savannah the soil runs out and rock begins at a depth that may be above or below the casing invert, so the crew looks at the geology, drills a test hole if the answer is unclear, and brings a rock cutting head or a guided pilot when needed. On the Coastal Plain the face is sand that wants to run, so the operator keeps the head slightly inside the casing and the push steady, and the pit is shored and dewatered. Davis Underground Solutions, Inc. owns its auger machines and its directional rigs, so the crossing gets the tool it needs rather than the tool that happened to be on the trailer. Drawings for the railroad or GDOT application are prepared in house; Davis Underground Solutions has photos of completed crossings. Estimates are free. Call now: (678) 264-3333.
Estimates are free. Call now: (678) 264-3333.
Other drilling and boring services in Savannah
Directional Drilling Savannah
Horizontal directional drilling (HDD) for new underground utilities: steered bores under roads, driveways, parking lots, creeks and landscaping with no open trench.
Horizontal Boring Savannah
Horizontal boring for conduit, casing and carrier pipe where digging across a surface is not an option.
Pipe Boring Savannah
Boring and pulling in HDPE or steel product pipe from a few inches up to large-diameter casings.
Fiber Optic Drilling Savannah
Directional drilling for fiber and communications duct: long bores, multiple ducts in one pull, tight easements.
Electrical Conduit Drilling Savannah
Bores for primary and secondary power conduit, lighting circuits and site electrical feeds.
Utility Drilling Savannah
Multi-utility installs for developers and utilities: power, gas, water, sewer and telecom on one site plan.
Sewer Line Drilling Savannah
Directional drilling and boring for new gravity-adjusted force mains, laterals and sewer crossings.
Water Main Drilling Savannah
HDD installation of new water mains and service lines, including creek and road crossings.
Gas Line Drilling Savannah
Bores for new natural gas mains and services, coordinated with the utility and its operator-qualification rules.
Questions about auger boring in Savannah
What size steel casing can you jack in Savannah?+
From 12-inch up to 36-inch casings on the standard machines, larger with heavier equipment and deeper pits. The owner's permit and the carrier pipe decide the diameter and wall thickness.
How far can one push go?+
A single push of 60 to 200 feet covers most road and track crossings. Line and grade get harder to hold beyond that, and the crew will propose two pits and a mid-crossing structure when the distance calls for it.
Why can't the sewer just be directionally drilled?+
Because a steered bore follows an arc and cannot guarantee a constant fall. A gravity sewer needs the exact slope a cased auger bore provides.
How long does the railroad part take?+
The push itself takes days; the railroad's engineering review, insurance certificate and flagging schedule take weeks, so the application goes in first.
Is the estimate free?+
It is. Send the crossing drawing and the permit, or call (678) 264-3333 now, and the crew will walk the site and price the pits, the casing and the carrier.