Under the Bridge: How Advantage Directional Drilling Delivered Precision with Ditch Witch and Subsite

In Southern California’s High Desert, consistency is hard to come by. Ground conditions shift without warning. What feels solid underfoot can give way just as quickly, as heat, wind and changing temperatures continually reshape the terrain.

That uncertainty defines the environment Advantage Directional Drilling works in every day. It is a landscape where precision is required, documentation must hold and confidence is built through experience, not assumption.

Those realities came into focus during a gas line relocation beneath Deep Creek. The project required installing an eight-inch steel line beneath a bridge reinforced with hidden steel and surrounded by unstable soil. What appeared straightforward during planning quickly evolved into a more complex crossing when conditions underground disrupted locating data and left little room for error.

“This wasn’t a job you could just drill and hope,” said Johnny Torres, superintendent and driller for Advantage Directional Drilling. “We had to be dead on.”

A Family Business Built on Reliability

Advantage Directional Drilling was built as a family business from day one. Ralph Torres started the company in 2004 with a Ditch Witch JT520, a strong work ethic and a reputation for taking on difficult jobs. Early success came from long hours, disciplined planning and a trusted relationship with Ditch Witch West that continues to shape how the company operates.

Today, Advantage Directional Drilling operates primarily across California’s High Desert and into Arizona, focusing on gas and fiber work where bore data is demanded and documented. In California utility work, bore paths are logged, GPS coordinates are verified and contractors are trusted to deliver exactly what they record.

Lean Crews and Orange Iron

Advantage intentionally operates with small crews. A typical job includes three team members: an operator, a locator and a third contractor training to do both.

“The point is flexibility and accountability,” Torres said. “Everyone learns the whole job, not just one piece of it. That’s how you stay sharp.”

That same discipline carries into how Advantage Directional Drilling approaches its equipment. The company operates exclusively with Ditch Witch drills and Subsite locating systems. What began with a JT520 has progressed to larger machines, including a JT30 that has logged extensive hours in some of the most demanding ground conditions across California’s High Desert.

“We bleed orange,” Torres added.

That loyalty extends beyond brand preference. For Advantage Directional Drilling, reliability and accuracy are foundational to every job. Subsite locating systems, including the 750 and 752 models and the more recent Marksman+ locator, play a critical role in maintaining that standard.

Every rod and every bore rely on tools designed to perform consistently under pressure, matching the expectations of the people operating them.

“When the signal drops or the job hinges on a split-second call, uptime and quick support can mean the difference between moving forward and losing a day,” Torres said.

Under Deep Creek

That trust and support were soon tested beneath Deep Creek, one of only two creeks in the United States that flows south to north. On paper, the job appeared straightforward: relocating an existing gas line 25 feet to make room for a new bridge. However, shifting soils and buried reinforcement beneath the bridge made it clear the job was more than a routine crossing.

The original plan called for two 400-foot shots meeting in the middle. After running the numbers, it became clear that the depth required to clear the bridge structure would make a tie-in unsafe. The sugar sand could collapse the hole. Digging deep to connect would have introduced risk the crew could not justify.

Rather than risk it, Advantage committed to a continuous drill-and-pull operation. No potholing. No shortcuts.

The entry pit was dug 10 feet deep and shored, roughly 10 feet by 10 feet, while Torres inspected the setup before finalizing the bore plan. From there, he planned a 2 percent grade down, targeting nearly 20 feet of depth under the bridge while keeping the line level enough to pull eight-inch steel.

“Once drilling started, there was very little room to adjust,” Torres said.

Addressing Interference Underground

Before the first rod went in the ground, Torres brought Andy Taminich from Ditch Witch West to the site to walk the planned bore. Together, they traced the alignment, reviewed locator frequencies and focused on the final 100 feet beneath the bridge approach, where the road dropped sharply and rock and heavy reinforcement were expected.

The first 700 feet went smoothly. Asphalt, sand and familiar soil offered no surprises. The drill stayed on grade and the Subsite locator delivered steady, reliable reading.

However, conditions changed as the bore approached the bridge. At nearly 20 feet deep, with roughly 100 feet remaining, the locator signal dropped out.

Interference from rebar and unknown reinforcement within the bridge structure disrupted the signal, making pitch, angle and depth increasingly difficult to trust. In that moment, the challenge extended beyond equipment. A single miscalculation could trigger a cascade of consequences. Coming up too shallow risked damaging the pipe. Surfacing in the wrong location would have ended the project altogether.

“In California, accuracy is nonnegotiable,” Torres said. “Bore data is trusted, and mistakes carry consequences far beyond a single project. This was the critical part of the bore, and we had to do it right.”

When the Signal Disappeared

Under normal circumstances, the next step would have been wireline locating. It is a reliable solution, but one that would have introduced delays at a point when time was critical. Additional crews would have needed to be scheduled, specialized equipment brought in and progress put on hold, an interruption the project could not withstand.

“Wireline would’ve solved it, sure,” Torres said. “But time kills margins. What we needed was the kind of support where you can make a call, have someone show up, walk the job with you and help you find a better way.”

Instead, Torres contacted Ditch Witch West. Taminich returned to the site and worked alongside Torres while coordinating directly with Subsite support. Together, they worked methodically through available locator frequencies, aware that interference behaves differently depending on depth and surrounding material.

They started with 46, then moved to 21, followed by 15. Initially, the readings offered nothing usable. Then the signal began to return, first faint, then increasingly defined, like a pulse reappearing after a long pause. When the locator was set to 3.5, the signal stabilized and the job sputtered back to life.

“As soon as we changed, we had pitch and angle again,” Torres said. “That’s when we knew we could keep moving.”

Depth was still imperfect but usable. Torres relied on grade calculations and the discipline he comes back to time after time. Hold the bore steady, go slow, confirm what you can confirm and keep the work honest. When the drill head finally emerged, it was where it needed to be.

 “It was one of those good days,” Torres added.

Identifying the Source of Interference

It was only after the bore was finished that the cause of the interference became clear. The disruption had not come from standard rebar alone, but from extensive bridge reinforcement. Beneath the crossing sat a tightly packed grid of quarter-inch steel reinforced with fiberglass, forming a dense barrier beneath the structure. Together, it created an underground shield that sent every frequency skimming away like light across water.

“The signal was ricocheting in every direction and scattered every frequency we tried,” Torres said. “Once we saw what was beneath, it all made sense.”

With the cause identified, the outcome spoke for itself. The gas main was successfully relocated beyond the footprint of the future bridge. The customer was satisfied. The bore data remained accurate and intact.

When Partnership Drives the Plan

The Deep Creek crossing stretched nearly two weeks from the initial punch hole to final pullback. Progress during pre-reaming was slow, as sugar sand made it difficult to hold the hole open and required constant attention to maintain stability. By the time the pipe was installed, the crew had gone through 12 pallets of drilling fluid, each one contributing to protecting the line and completing the work correctly.

That level of preparedness extends beyond any single job. It is embedded in how Advantage Directional Drilling operates and in the relationships the company relies on every day. Midway through the Deep Creek bore, Torres recognized that the 600 feet of drill pipe on site would fall short of completing the 800-foot crossing. One call to the Ditch Witch dealership triggered a rapid response, and an additional 300 feet of drill pipe was delivered the same day, keeping the project on track.

The same support proved critical on another project when an eight-inch downhole tool raised concerns after contacting rock. Once again, Torres reached out to Taminich, the dealership contact, who had previously walked the Deep Creek bore with him.

“Andy tracked down the correct tooling in Texas and had it delivered on a Saturday,” Torres said. “No questions asked.”

For Torres, that kind of support changes how decisions are made in the field. It removes hesitation at critical moments and allows the crew to focus on execution rather than contingency planning, knowing help is already on the way.

Precision Under Pressure

In directional drilling, progress depends on what can be measured and trusted when conditions begin to shift.

At Deep Creek, maintaining accuracy became the real challenge when interference disrupted the signal at a critical point in the bore. In those moments, experience, preparation and reliable equipment determine the outcome.

For Advantage Directional Drilling, that approach is standard. Crews rely on verified data, disciplined processes and tools that allow them to adapt without sacrificing precision. Since adding the Subsite Marksman+ to its lineup, losing signal no longer means uncertainty. It means adjusting frequencies, confirming data and continuing forward with confidence.

Backed by responsive dealer support and a consistent approach in the field, the team was able to complete the crossing and maintain the accuracy the job required. Tags: Ditch Witch, Subsite