In September and October 2020, Brownline worked on a nice project in the Swiss city of Basel; surveying a 200 meter drill with steep entry and exit point beneath one of the city’s busiest thoroughfares.
The infrastructure in this border city is in full development. In addition to various expansions to roads, tramlines and railway tracks, the Basel museum of Natural History is about to begin construction for their new building. This will include a sizable basement floor, which will accommodate the city’s archives. When an existing set of natural gas and drinking water pipes have to be moved to underground in these plans, there are many factors to take into account.
The current pipelines cross a busy thoroughfare, including six train tracks, two tram tracks and a motorway via an overpass. The trajectory of the new corridor for these two pipelines therefore had to be placed deep enough not to hinder the future construction of the museum's basement. In addition, both entry and exit points had to be drilled at a steep angle due to the limited space on site. In addition to the above factors and obvious interference, the ground conditions also played a major role. The rocky bottom required the use of a mud motor.
Altogether, the Drillguide Gyro Steering Tool was the best choice for the short, but challenging drill job. The drill was executed successfully and with extreme precision, allowing for the project to continue without any delay.