Sugar Creek Crossing – 1,700′ of 8″
This crossing initially was designed to be approximately 900 feet long, passing near a shallow residential well, then 30 feet beneath Sugar Creek (near Towanda, PA), rising about 80 feet and exiting at the top of a cliff overlooking Sugar Creek.
The small agricultural valley, with Sugar Creek running at the base of red cliffs formed by the Lock Haven Formation, made for a beautiful scene. But DTD was not comfortable with the designed shallow depth below the stream and the distance between the bore and the cliff face. This was additionally complicated by a nearby residential well.
Before it was over, the bore was redesigned and extended from a 900′ bore, to a long 1,700 feet, with nearly 200′ of relief, and a hard 20 degree right-hand turn about 400′ before exit.
All this was complicated by the 30,000 psi unconfined compressive strength of the rock…. making for very slow drilling.
The bore initiated in December, and breaking for the Christmas Holiday, was completed in early January. The final week of work was completed with two crews keeping the rig turning 24-hours a day. Temperatures rarely above 25 degrees and nightly temps in the single digits made this all the more challenging.
The pullback of the 8-inch steel was completed successfully without impact to Sugar Creek, the residential well, or with any uncontrolled release of drilling fluid.