Route & Constraint Screening
Understand environmental, infrastructure, subsurface, and property constraints before detailed design begins.
Pipeline Engineering Calculations, Open Cut & Trenchless Installation Planning
Pipeline Planning Toolbox by SubTerra Pipeline Technologies.
- Design smarter crossings. Plan and engineer horizontal directional drilling (HDD), trenchless installation, and open-cut crossings — every design built on a comprehensive 50-state mapping engine.
- See every constraint in one place. Overlay water wells, geotechnical boring logs, geology and lithology, soils and depth to bedrock, wetlands, flood zones, contaminated sites, oil & gas wells, pipelines, power and telecom transmission lines, railroads, levees, parcels with owner lookup, and protected lands and more.
- Get a head start on permitting. An automated permitting analysis engine reads the layers your route crosses and flags the permits each crossing is likely to trigger — turning site constraints into progress on your permit package.
Powered by authoritative federal & state data sources
USGSElevation, Geology, Hydrography & Karst
FEMAFlood Zones, Levees & Building Footprints
USFWSCritical Habitat & Endangered Species
NWINational Wetlands Inventory
EPASuperfund, RCRA & Brownfields Sites
USACELevees (NLD) & Dams (NID)
U.S. DOT / EIAOil, Gas & Product Pipelines
PHMSANational Pipeline Mapping System (NPMS)
FRA / BTSNorth American Rail Network
U.S. CensusHighways & Tribal Lands (TIGER)
HIFLDPower Lines, Substations & Comm Towers
FCCRegistered Communication Towers
USDA NRCSSurface Soils (SSURGO)
USGS / MRLCNational Land Cover (NLCD)
NPSNational Register of Historic Places
BIATribal Reservations & Trust Lands
One Platform, Three Workflows
From early screening to documented engineering decisions.
Organize the product around the work engineers need to complete—not around a long list of disconnected features.
HDD & Open-Cut Design
Turn the selected alignment into a preliminary crossing design using plan, profile, geometry, and subsurface data.
Calculations & Reports
Validate the design with recognized engineering methods and generate project-ready calculation documentation.
01 — Screen
Know what the route crosses before the design starts.
Import or draw a proposed alignment and review environmental, infrastructure, subsurface, and land-ownership constraints in one interactive map.
Screen the full corridor
Review wetlands, floodplains, waterways, roads, railroads, utilities, parcels, wells, and geology.
Identify conflicts earlier
Flag crossings and potential permitting considerations before detailed engineering effort is spent.
Compare route alternatives
Evaluate candidate corridors and document why a preferred route was selected.
02 — Design
Develop HDD and open-cut concepts in plan and profile.
Carry the screened alignment directly into a design workspace and define entry and exit geometry, cover, radii, tangents, trench conditions, and subsurface information.
Build HDD or open-cut geometry
Design HDD and open-cut crossings in plan and profile. Set key parameters, and stationing, depth, cover, trench geometry, and bends generate automatically for single or multiple segments.
Bring ground and subsurface data onto the profile
Add terrain, subsurface data, utilities, land cover, wetlands, and clearance checks directly to the profile.
Analyze, then export
Run engineering checks from the same geometry, then export profile data, coordinates, KMZ files, quantities, and bill of materials.
03 — Validate
Connect the design to calculations and professional reports.
Evaluate installation, operation, external loading, ground response, and testing conditions using focused engineering modules with transparent inputs, equations, results, and references.
Use project-specific inputs
Carry pipe properties, geometry, soil conditions, cover, and crossing data into the selected analysis.
See the governing condition
Compare calculated demand against allowable limits, utilization, and design checks.
Create project-ready documentation
Generate calculation reports with assumptions, equations, results, methodology, and references.
Representative Calculation Groups
Recognized engineering methods for every stage of a crossing.
A focused set of analysis groups spanning installation, ground response, crossings, pipeline design, hydraulics, and testing — each built on established standards with transparent inputs, equations, and references.
HDD Installation
Pullback force, installation stresses, support spacing, minimum length, and drilling-fluid planning.
Ground Response
HFIR, settlement, buoyancy control, external pressure, and related soil-pipe interaction checks.
Road & Rail Crossings
API 1102, highway wheel loads, track loads, and cased or uncased crossing evaluations.
Pipeline Design
Pressure design, operational stresses, SMYS, Barlow, and other core pipeline calculations.
Hydraulics & Operations
Gas flow, blowdown, thrust force, valve-related checks, and operating scenario evaluations.
Construction & Testing
Lowering-in, hydrotest pressure, test volume, bend radius, and field execution planning.
Who It Is For
Built around real pipeline project workflows.
See where the platform fits across the teams that plan, design, and build pipeline crossings — from early screening through field execution.
Pipeline Operators
Standardize screening, crossing reviews, and engineering documentation.
Engineering Consultants
Accelerate feasibility, design, calculations, and client deliverables.
Utilities & Energy Developers
Evaluate corridors and installation methods earlier in project development.
EPC & Construction Teams
Review geometry, constructability, quantities, and field planning assumptions.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about the HDD planning tool and environmental assessment features.
What is the Pipeline Planning Toolbox and who is it for?
It's a cloud-based pipeline engineering platform for HDD designers, pipeline engineers, utility & energy developers, and construction/EPC teams. It replaces the patchwork of spreadsheets, desktop tools, agency GIS portals, and reference lookups with 30+ calculation modules and an interactive map of 45+ live data layers — energy, utility, transportation, environmental, subsurface/geotechnical, and land-ownership data — plus automated permit screening of the corridor. Everything attaches to a single alignment, all in one browser-based app.
What engineering standards and calculations does the toolbox cover?
The toolbox includes 25+ calculation modules built on industry-governing codes (ASME B31.4/B31.8, API 1102, 49 CFR 192, ASTM, PRCI, etc). Coverage spans Pipe Design and SMYS, installation and operational stresses for HDD crossings, Pullback Force, HDD Bore Geometry, Highway and Railroad Crossings, Hydrotest Analysis, HFIR (various methods), Settlement Analysis, and more — so you can take a project from planning through verification in one place.
What geospatial data is available on the map?
The map integrates 60+ external data sources: satellite/topo basemaps (Google, ESRI, Bing, USGS), pipeline layers (EIA natural gas, crude oil, HGL), FEMA flood zones, USFWS critical habitat and NWI wetlands, USGS streams and geology, real-time USGS elevation profiling along your bore path, and water-well databases from 45+ states. You can also import KML/KMZ alignments and auto-detect road, rail, and stream crossings along the path. You can also export coordinates to Excel or generate a KMZ file for your HDD or open-cut design, allowing you to view it directly in Google Earth.
How are my projects saved and can I generate reports?
Projects are saved to your account in the cloud with autosave across every analysis, so you can pick up on any device. Each module produces a professional PDF engineering report generated directly in your browser — stamped with project details, inputs, calculated values, and charts — ready to attach to permits or deliverables.
Start Your Next HDD or Open-Cut Project With Us
All the data, calculations, and reports you need. Zero setup. 7-day free Expert Tier trial.
Start Free Trial — 7 Days