Breaking Ground Beneath the James: Garney and Huxted’s Historic River Crossing

When Garney Construction and Huxted Trenchless teamed up on the James River crossing project, it was clear from the start: this was going to be a job that demanded precision, experience, and flawless execution.

Now, the story behind the project has been captured in an all-new documentary — a behind-the-scenes look at one of the most impressive horizontal directional drilling (HDD) achievements in recent memory and a world record project.

A Major Milestone in Horizontal Directional Drilling

Spanning over 5,000 feet under the historic James River in Virginia, the project pushed the limits of what’s possible with HDD.
Every decision — from planning and tooling to drilling fluids — had to be dialed in to perfection.

For a crossing of this scale and complexity, the choice of drilling fluid additive was critical. Garney and Huxted made the decision to rely solely on DrilRite’s SureFlow, a proprietary product engineered for maximum performance in sand, gravel, and challenging mixed ground conditions.

SureFlow: A Key Ingredient to Success

SureFlow’s unique formulation helped maintain fluid consistency, minimize annular pressure, and protect the formation throughout the entire bore. With no additional fluid additives needed, the teams were able to maintain control, optimize hole cleaning, and avoid costly delays — a testament not just to SureFlow’s capabilities, but to the expertise and professionalism of the crews on site.

The result?

A smooth, successful pullback across one of the toughest natural obstacles on the East Coast.

Setting a New Standard

The James River crossing project isn’t just a win for Garney, Huxted, and their partners. It’s a shining example of what can happen when top-level contractors, proven planning, and the right drilling fluid technology come together.

Congratulations to the teams at Garney and Huxted for raising the bar.

Hear the Full Story from Huxted’s Senior Engineer

We also recently sat down with Greg Horn, the Senior engineer for Huxted on the James River project, for an episode of the One Foot at a Time podcast. Greg walked us through the planning, challenges, and decisions that made this job a success. You can listen to that conversation [here].