#NextGenRVA – Trenchless Technology: Working Below the Surface

Beneath our roads, communities, and landscapes lies a network of systems that quietly supports how we live. From moving water to managing waste, this underground infrastructure connects essential services. For centuries, maintaining these systems meant disruption such as excavation, road closures, and significant impacts above ground. Today, with trenchless technology, that approach is changing.

The Shift in How We Build Underground
Trenchless technology has become a mainstream solution for municipalities and is transforming how they install, rehabilitate, and replace underground infrastructure. Last year, RVA ranked #37 on the 2025 Top 50 Trenchless Engineering Firms list in North America, a reflection of the growing impact of trenchless solutions across the industry. Rather than continuous open excavation, trenchless technologies enable below-ground work with minimal surface disruption. Instead of digging full-length trenches, construction is typically carried out between small access pits or existing structures.

For Evan Toews, RVA’s Project Manager, who has over a decade of municipal engineering experience, trenchless technology is more than an alternative. “Instead of relying on large scale open-cut construction, these methods allow engineers to install and rehabilitate systems with far less impact at the surface, and facilitate projects that would otherwise not be possible,” Evan explains. “In dense urban environments, where space is limited, working below ground becomes necessary.”

Evan’s experience spans cast-in-place pipe (CIPP) lining for watermains and sewers, forcemains, storm and sanitary sewers, sewage pumping stations as well as trenchless installations including microtunnelling, horizontal directional drilling, and slip-lining. In addition to project work, he has authored technical papers and delivered presentations focused on the role of trenchless technology in modern infrastructure.

His approach was demonstrated in a CIPP lining project. The project involved rehabilitating approximately 1,400 m of 250 mm and 300 mm diameter watermain, along with replacing 29 valves, 10 hydrants, and 28 large-diameter service connections. Located in a busy area with major water users that includes hotels, schools, churches, and restaurants. The work required careful coordination to maintain water service while minimizing disruption. By using a minimally invasive trenchless solution, the team was able to extend the lifespan of the existing infrastructure while significantly reducing the impact on the surrounding community.

Through the course of his career, Evan has seen the shift firsthand. As municipalities continue to face the challenge of renewing aging systems, trenchless technologies provide a practical path forward. They help extend the life of existing assets, reduce environmental impacts, and avoid conflicts with surface features such as roads, highways, watercourses, structures, and trees. At the same time, these methods can support better risk management, improve asset management timelines, and extend the performance of assets.

Balancing Benefits and Limitations
Trenchless methods are not without limitations. They are more specialized solutions which require to be tailored to the project at hand. Access to the host pipe is still required to complete rehabilitation or connections to existing systems, so some level of excavation is unavoidable. But the advantages become clearer when compared to traditional open-cut construction. “Full excavation, pipe removal, replacement, backfilling, and site restoration can quickly become complex and costly, particularly as trench depths increase with the open-cut method.” Evan explains. “Additional requirements such as shoring, traffic control, and dewatering in high groundwater areas only add to the challenge, along with the inevitable noise and disruption to surrounding communities.”

In that context, trenchless technologies are a technical advancement and a practical response to modern infrastructure demands. As communities continue to grow and systems continue to age, the need for solutions that balance performance with minimal disruption will only become more pressing.

Learn about RVA’s underground infrastructure services.

About RVA

At R.V. Anderson Associates Limited (RVA), we’re a community of thinkers, innovators, and collaborators who combine human ingenuity with technology and experience to deliver sustained outcomes that make a difference. We are an employee-owned community with an award-winning culture carrying forth a proud legacy of 75+ years of engineering excellence, which has grown to a thriving organization of diverse professionals. We work together across geographic, functional, and business lines to deliver dynamic solutions that are based on trust and informed decision-making. At the core of our brand is our values connecting people, projects, and planet.

For more information, please contact:

Andrea Musina
Marketing Communications Manager
marcom@rvanderson.com
www.rvanderson.com