Even after nearly 40 years with Price Brothers, Travis Merrill still gets a big thrill when he sees a shipment of our big-diameter PCCP move onto a job site.

And that's what happened at the beginning of the Nashville project when Travis was serving as Price Brothers' Field Service representative to support the installation of 1,214 lineal feet of 144-inch diameter PCCP as a new treatment plant outfall line. This impressive line-up of pipe, along with 270 feet of 84-inch PCCP for a connecting diffuser pipeline, was installed successfully 15 feet under the Cumberland River--ready to serve the central wastewater treatment plant being expanded by the Metro Water & Sewage Treatment Dept.

Shipping, handling, and installing pipe of this size truly is a big challenge for everyone involved. This is one of the largest diameter pipelines ever installed in Tennessee and the PCCP is some of the largest produced by Price Brothers.

From our pipe plant in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, all 76 sections of the 144-inch pipe as well as 17 sections of 84-inch PCCP for the diffuser line, were shipped by one train to Memphis and then divided into three trains for the trip to Nashville. From Memphis to Nashville the trip took two days as inspectors carefully checked to make sure there was enough clearance for the giant pipe. It all arrived safely and on schedule.

For contractor W. L. Hailey & Co. of Nashville, this was their largest diameter outfall construction job yet. Project Superintendent Clay Chaffin and his 15-man crew had their first experience using the Hydro-Pull subaqueous pipe assembly system. It uses a patented bulkhead mounted on the pipe section being installed to create a pressure drop inside the pipe that draws the joint tightly together.

"We're convinced already," says Clay. "We projected a production rate of 1-1/2 joints per day for the 144-inch sections, but we did somewhat better using this new technique."

Overall design/engineering for this plant modernization and expansion effort was directed by Consoer, Townsend & Associates.

For all the partners in this important project, what began as a very big challenge has now become a very big success story. And Price Brothers is proud to have been part of it.

To save time and help assure the safety of the diver installing the pipe, the harness clamps for these 84-inch diameter PCCP diffuser sections-as well as the 144-inch sections-were mounted at the end of each pipe by the contractor before installation.

Technical highlights

• This new $3.3-million outfall project is able to carry up to 330 million gallons of treated sewage water daily-adding enough treatment capacity to serve Nashville's needs through the year 2035.
• The Hydro-Pull subaqueous pipe assembly system was specified for this project to facilitate underwater joining of the huge 144-inch diameter sections of Price Brothers PCCP and fittings more safely and quickly.
• This project was initiated with a two-day partnering session between the owner, engineers, contractor, and sub-contractors.