Microtunneling in Practice: Precision Crossings Beneath Rivers, Railroads, Highways, and Lakes
Join us for the fall Engineering Seminar Series as Shane McFadden, P.E., Engineering & Construction Innovations, Inc. (ECI), presents Microtunneling in Practice: Precision Crossings Beneath Rivers, Railroads, Highways, and Lakes.
Some of the most difficult utility crossings in civil infrastructure sit beneath features that cannot be disturbed: a navigable river, an active rail line, an interstate, or a lake that serves as a municipal water supply. Microtunneling is a remotely operated, laser-guided, pipe-jacked tunneling method that allows owners and engineers to install gravity sewer, force main, water transmission, and intake pipe under those features with no open cut, no traffic detour, and no service interruption.
This seminar will provide a practical introduction to microtunneling and its applications, including: railroad crossings, river crossings, highway crossings, and lake taps. Furthermore, the presentation will walk through the process end to end, equipment selection, cutter head arrangement, geotechnical investigation, and receiving shaft design.
Attendees will leave with a working understanding of when microtunneling is the right tool, what a designer needs to provide for the method to succeed, and where the risk actually sits on a crossing of this type.
Presenter: Shane McFadden, P.E., Engineering & Construction Innovations, Inc.
About the presenter
Shane McFadden is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Engineering & Construction Innovations, Inc (ECI). A licensed professional engineer and a 1994 graduate of the Construction Engineering program at Iowa State University, he has spent his career on heavy civil and underground construction, and has led ECI from a small startup to a firm of more than 100 professionals delivering some of the region's most technically demanding underground projects. His experience spans microtunneling and trenchless crossings, shaft and tunnel construction, dam and hydropower rehabilitation, and geotechnical construction.
About the company
Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Oakdale, Minnesota, Engineering & Construction Innovations, Inc. (ECI) is a full-service, self-performing heavy civil contractor serving public and heavy industrial clients throughout the Midwest and across the United States. ECI specializes in technically complex underground work, including microtunneling and trenchless installation, tunnels and shafts, dams and hydroelectric facilities, water and wastewater systems, geotechnical construction, structural rehabilitation, and design-build delivery. ECI's field supervisors and managing engineers average more than 20 years of construction experience.
About the Engineering Seminar Series
The University of Wisconsin-Platteville Engineering Seminar Series is offered on campus and via zoom. Free and open to the public, these presentations showcase the plan, design, construction, and maintenance of real-world engineering projects and how they change our community. Attendees are eligible for one professional development hour.
For more information or to request disability accommodations, contact the UW-Platteville College of Engineering, Mathematics and Science Dean's Office at 608.342.1561 or emsdeansoffice@uwplatt.edu.