Commercial and industrial HDD for conduit, fiber, water, sewer and gas in El Paso and across the county, planned around caliche, rock and the City and County bore and pavement-cut rules.
Texas Hawk is headquartered in Southlake and our crews are based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. El Paso is a very long haul west, so for El Paso County projects we plan the rig and crew mobilization into the schedule and price from the start. When a program outgrows one crew, our 300+ crew network can mobilize nationwide.
El Paso County is desert basin ground with mountains rising out of it. The USGS state geologic map shows sand, basin fill and alluvium across most of the county, with limestone and granite in the Franklin Mountains. Site soil borings set the final tooling and fluid program; this is the general picture.
The sand sheet covers about 32 percent of the county and dune sand about 5 percent. Loose sand caves and loses drilling fluid, so mud selection and reaming are matched to the boring log.
Bolson deposits cover about 13 percent of the county, with another 7 percent mapped as Quaternary-Tertiary bolson, and alluvial fans and older alluvium add about 18 percent. These are layered sand, silt, clay and gravel washed down from the mountains, so a bore can change ground type several times.
In the Hueco Bolson, caliche, cemented calcium carbonate, commonly occurs 2 to 4 feet below the surface, according to the Texas Water Development Board. Shallow caliche matters for pits, potholes and shallow bores, and for tooling choice.
Alluvium covers about 15 percent of the county, mostly along the Rio Grande valley and its drainage. Soft, wet soil and irrigation features are common there, so crossings are planned with depth and fluid containment in mind.
Hueco Limestone covers about 3 percent of the county, and the El Paso Formation, Bliss Sandstone, Fusselman Limestone, Mingus Formation and granite make up smaller areas. Franklin Mountains construction has required blasting near rail, according to a published geotechnical paper, so rock is a real possibility on some alignments.
Soil data drives the bore profile, tooling, drilling fluid and vacuum capture. Caliche and rock change the schedule, so we price and plan for it up front.
In El Paso the City and the County each publish written rules for boring and pavement cuts, and the electric utility has its own crossing requirements. We line them up early so they do not hold up mobilization.
The City requires both a Traffic Control Permit and a Pavement Cut Permit for excavation, boring, coring or drilling. Applications are submitted at least 48 hours before work, with plans that follow Chapter 6 of the Texas Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, and inspection is scheduled at least 24 hours ahead.
Before work the contractor verifies illumination and traffic-signal locations, and signal line locates are requested with the 811 ticket. Signal cabling is easy to miss on a bore path, so we confirm it.
County pipeline permit rules call for road crossings by jack and bore in steel casing to TxDOT Item 476, with the casing extending 5 feet beyond the right-of-way lines and no open cuts in county road pavement.
Pipelines are placed 20 feet off the right-of-way line with 60 inches of cover. Road cut permits are obtained no more than 30 days ahead and the work is done within 14 days, bore pits stay open 14 days at most and sit 10 feet from the pavement edge unless approved in writing, and shoring may be required based on soil conditions.
El Paso Electric serves El Paso County. Its right-of-way crossing guidance calls for pipelines to cross near perpendicular, and cathodic-protection studies may be required. The Texas Electric Cooperatives county list also shows the Rio Grande Electric Cooperative for El Paso County.
El Paso County is in TxDOT’s El Paso District with Brewster, Culberson, Hudspeth, Jeff Davis and Presidio counties. Work in state right-of-way is permitted through TxDOT’s utility process.
El Paso County work spans commercial and industrial sites inside the city, growing edges such as Horizon City and Socorro, and rock-and-rail corridors along the mountains.
Plans, utility records and soil data reviewed up front, with the bore set to the City and County rules and to caliche and rock conditions.
Texas811 notice at least two working days ahead, signal and utility lines verified, and City or County paperwork started early.
Bore the path, track it, and capture drilling fluid so it stays out of drainage ways and storm drains.
Daily production reports and as-builts for close-out.
Yes. The City requires both a Traffic Control Permit and a Pavement Cut Permit for excavation, boring, coring or drilling.
Applications are submitted at least 48 hours before work, and inspection is scheduled at least 24 hours ahead.
No. County road crossings are done by jack and bore in steel casing, with no open cuts in county road pavement.
14 days at most, and it must sit 10 feet from the pavement edge unless the County approves otherwise in writing.
It can be. Caliche commonly occurs 2 to 4 feet below the surface in the Hueco Bolson, so it affects pits, potholes, shallow bores and tooling.
Commercial and industrial projects only: developers, general contractors, utilities and electrical, telecom and mechanical contractors.
Commercial projects only. Fill out the quick form or call us — we’ll take it from there.