JW Wilde Mechanical – GPR Project, Bradenton, FL

When JW Wilde Mechanical of Sarasota, FL needed to excavate a 600 foot trench directly above two hot water lines on the campus of Manatee Community College in Bradenton, FL without hitting other utilities in the area they contacted GPRS, Inc of Orlando, FL.  JW Wilde has an ongoing construction project on the campus of MCC and there scope of work includes replacing two hot water lines that run across the campus.  To do this they excavate down to the hot water lines and replace roughly 600 feet of piping.  JW Wilde was concerned about the possibility of hitting other utilities in this process and so they contacted Ground Penetrating Radar Systems to locate all of the utilities that might cross the trench line

On site GPRS was able to locate the two lines that needed to be replaced and map them out across the campus.  They then went back over the lines and located all of the utilities that crossed or ran with the hot water lines.  The results were painted on the ground as well as mapped on a plan view for future reference.  GPRS was also able to identify telecommunication and fiber optic utilities that crossed the trench line using their RD-7000 radio detection unit.  All in all the survey revealed a number of utilities that would have been struck had a GPR utility survey not been conducted prior to excavation.  This certainly saved JW Wilde from further expense and potential employee injury.
 
Chris Moore runs GPRS operations in the South Eastern United States.  He is based in Orlando, FL and he can be reached at (727)420.3292 or by email at chris.moore@gprsinc.com. Utility scanning and trench line mapping are common applications performed by the GPR technicians at GPRS.

In this picture Chris Moore runs the “cart” over the surface while watching the screen for underground utility reactions.

Chris continues to walk the cart over the proposed trench line mapping all of the utilities in orange paint.