A team working on the Hampton Roads Sanitation District’s Boat Harbor Treatment Plant Conversion and Transmission program reached a milestone in May when they completed the installation of more than 5,700 ft of large bore pipeline under the Newport News shipping channel in the James River in a continuous pipepull operation that lasted more than 24 hours.

The 42-in.-dia DR11 HDPE pipe will be part of a wastewater force main connecting from a new pumping station being built on the Newport News, Va., side of the river to the sanitation district (HRSD)’s Nansemond Treatment Plant in Suffolk, Va. To install it, the team used horizontal directional drilling.