Joe’s Creek Interceptor Improvements

Completed in 2024 by Southland Contracting, the Joe’s Creek Interceptor Improvements project consisted of the replacement of a 1.5-mile section of decrepit 30-inch reinforced concrete pipe (RCP) storm sewer within Joe’s Creek by installing new 36-inch lines through various streets (mostly Bowman Boulevard, Webb Chapel Road, and Lombardy Lane). The project features 8,370 linear feet of 60-inch excavated diameter tunnel to house 36-inch Hobas carrier pipe. There are 20 shafts ranging from 21 to 48 vertical feet in depth. Ground conditions comprise sand, sand with gravel, sandstone, sandy clay, shaley clay, and shale (Eagle Ford). Tunneling was done by three methods: 60-inch Herrenknecht microtunnel boring machine (MTBM) (76% of job); 60-inch double-shield, open-faced, rigid, steering-shoe guided Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) (designed and fabricated by Southland) (23% of job); and 54-inch casing by jacking and hand mining (1% of job). Nineteen of the shafts are in high-traffic streets of Dallas. Significant traffic control measures were required, including closing down intersections. Traffic lights were moved from their original location to facilitate traffic control. Crews successfully completed a 1,256 linear feet microtunnel drive of 60-inch pipe within 1/16-inch of the centerline despite drastically changing soil conditions.