With the rise of trenchless technologies over the past 25 years, underground utility construction methods have changed dramatically. Horizontal directional drilling (HDD) systems are among the various trenchless technologies being used to build and maintain a growing percentage of the world’s underground utility infrastructure.

“The use of HDD systems is increasing everywhere—urban, suburban and rural areas,” says Richard Levings, senior product manager of HDD equipment for The Charles Machine Works, Inc., manufacturer of Ditch Witch® equipment. “Overall, the HDD process offers a lot less disturbance to the public. These days, you see more and more city regulations forbidding the tearing up of streets, driveways, and sidewalks. If you are rehabilitating an infrastructure—gas, power, water, telecom, or sewer facilities—the main advantage of directional drilling is that it does not disturb any surrounding structures or landscaping. This is where the cost advantages come in: you don’t have to deal with spoils and haul them off, you don’t have to compact the trench, and you don’t have restore the landscaping around the trench.” Levings also points out the advantages of the HDD process for nearby businesses. “Typically when you’re working on a commercial property, HDD allows you to not disturb the entrance, which makes business owners very happy. If you cut a big trench in front of a doctor’s office or restaurant, you’re going to negatively affect the operation of that business for many days or weeks. Directional drilling avoids this problem.”

Advances in electronic utility locating equipment are also helping crews avoid damage to existing utilities and provide mapping capabilities for newly installed infrastructure. “Every Ditch Witch Jet Trac® HDD unit comes complete with an integral Ditch Witch-brand electronic tracking and locating system,” adds Levings.

Asked to assess the potential of trenchless technologies, Levings notes a number of trends that could mean explosive growth in the use of directional drilling equipment. “With the economy finally coming around, utility and telecom companies are spending money for the first time in a few years—and one of the first things they’re investing in is expanding and upgrading their systems. Gas companies are replacing systems that were installed 30 or 40 years ago. And, partly because of the powerful hurricanes we’ve seen in the last ten years, a lot of states in the southeast—Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas—are investing in putting their overhead utility lines underground. It’s expensive, but a lot cheaper than fixing them every time a hurricane blows through.

“All of this can be done extremely efficiently with HDD equipment, which minimizes cleanup and disturbance of existing infrastructure. The overriding benefit is an infrastructure that does not have to be serviced for a long time.” A new avenue for HDD applications is the fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) industry. Recent advances in communications technology have made extremely high-speed broadband service available to the public. Voice, data, and video service of up to 30 Mbps is now available for residential and commercial use in a rapidly growing number of communities across the country. Standard cable and phone wiring are incapable of transmitting such large signals—about 3 Mbps is the maximum speed of a residential cable—so a special fiber-optic cable must be connected to the home or business. Directional drilling is considered to be the installation method of choice by the FTTH industry. “Right now, there’s some major competition going on between the cable companies and the regional providers like SBC, Verizon, Quest, and Bell South. They’re all offering bundled communications packages—broadband video, data, phone, and television—and it’s a matter of who can provide it the fastest and at the best price. So, the communications industry alone represents an area of enormous potential for HDD applications.” With HDD’s future so rosy, one might predict a lot of new underground construction companies emerging, but so far this isn’t the case. “We’re not seeing a lot of new contractors getting into the directional drilling business,” says Levings. “Mostly we’re seeing existing customers discovering the advantages of the HDD application.”

With the economy improving and new technology emerging, there should be plenty of work to go around for both established and new underground construction companies.