Project HammerHead: On Location
Pipe Ramming in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

HammerHead Ramming - The soil conditions in the Coeur d'Alene area are extremely tough, with large rock being the norm. US Pipelines had tried doing this job with an auger, but the soil conditions were so rocky the auger kept getting stuck. They called in Skyview Construction, of Port Falls, Idaho, who chose the 23" HammerHead tool to Ram the pipe under both the railroad bed and highway. The first 190 foot ram under the railroad bed went smooth until the pipe met up with a 30" rock. Ground conditions were so tough that the rock collapsed the front of the ¾" thick pipe 40 feet short of the finish line. The 23" tool still managed to ram the pipe and the boulder forward another 20 feet, at which point, the railroad authority allowed Skyview to dig to the collapsed pipe and once clear, the ram was completed. The 195 foot ram, under the highway, in the same tough soil conditions went off without a hitch. Overall production rate was a solid 6 inches per minute.

For a printable PDF version of this job story click here.

The pipe is set and the tool is set in place to start the ram.

Tool started and the ram is underway.

Preparing to clean out the pipe at the completion of the ram. Jim Dickson
next to the ladder and Bob Coles checking out the pipe, of Skyview Construction as US Pipeline foreman Chuck Ogg (in the Western Hardhat) looks on.