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GPRS Locates subsurface utilities in Nashville, Tennessee

Private utility locating is essential prior to ground breaking and excavation on your next project. Ground Penetrating Radar Systems, LLC., is a private utility locating company with 18 years of experience with GPR. GPRS was recently contacted to locate subsurface utilities at a large apartment community in south Nashville. Subsurface utilities in the area needed to be identified prior to a cable company coming in to run fiber cable for new high-speed internet service throughout the community. The contractor on the project needed to perform directional drilling to run new fiber lines through the streets of the community, as well as to each building. Given this scope, it was important that all existing utilities in the area be located so they would not be struck during the drilling process.

After meeting and walking the site with the contractor for just a few minutes, GPRS technicians had developed a plan of attack with the site superintendent and were able to discuss obstacles and areas of concern that may come into play throughout the day. Once GPRS set up their equipment, a 400MHz GPR antenna powered by a GSSI SIR4000 processing unit, they quickly began to cover ground and mark anomalies on the ground surface. The total area of the apartment community was approximately 30 acres, but the GPRS crew maintained a steady pace and were diligent about taking notes so as not to miss anything when they returned to the site to finish. The project in total took GPRS 6 days on site. At times they brought in additional staff to ensure the project stayed on schedule. Once completed, GPRS walked the entire site with the site superintendent and explained their findings and answered any remaining questions. After the walk-thru, GPRS collected GPS coordinates with a handheld device to later process as a Google Earth KMZ map for the contracting team.

In the pictures below, you will see Zach Vickers using a conductive rodder to insert into a storm drain line. Once inserted into the line, Zach was able to induce a tone onto the rodder line, match a receiver to the frequency, and trace the storm line. The reason for this technique was because at 10’ deep, the storm line was too deep for the GPR equipment to detect. This is an effective method to locate many lines that are either too deep for GPR, don’t have a conductive tracer wire running with the line, or if the ground surface simply isn’t conducive for a proper GPR scan.

GPRS does not provide geophysical, geological, land surveying or engineering services. If you need such services, please contact an appropriate professional.

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