By Chris Yow
Editor
TRUSSVILLE — Trussville Gas and Water announced Thursday, Oct. 29, the company is planning its final phase of a project to upgrade and replace water and natural gas mains throughout much of downtown. The project is set to begin Nov. 9 and will be completed by Southern Directional Inc.
According to General Manager Mike Strength and Project Engineer Chandler Yarnall, the 2.3 million dollar project will prepare Main Street for an Alabama Department of Transportation project that is expected to take place in the near future widening the road for a center turn lane between Chalkville Road and Parkway Drive. This project has been in the works for more than five years, but once completed, the water and gas mains will be upgraded to a standard that will be easier to maintain for years to come.
“It’s not really a quality issue as much as it is a reliability issue on the water side,” Strength said. “Aging pipes, regardless of what they are carrying tend to degrade. When a pipe breaks, it tends to be a clean break creating a substantial leak.”
Yarnall said he expected several work sites to be simultaneously active during the project in order to complete the project as quickly as possible.
“A boring company will be installing bores under the highway while crews are installing pipe in other areas,” Yarnall said.
Strength added, “A bore under the highway doesn’t shut the highway down. You bore it under the highway to prevent having to cut the asphalt and shut down traffic. It’s more expensive to bore, but it’s important to keep traffic flowing and not affect the roadway.”
There will be some lane closures, however, but the company plans to keep them during low traffic hours or at night to minimize traffic problems in an already densely travelled area.
The project duration is 180 days with additional days in the event of weather problems.
“I think it will take that long. It’s a very complicated project,” Yarnall said.
Every street in the project area will likely have some work done, but the amount of time businesses and homes will be without water or gas should be minimal, according to Yarnall.
“Once you put in the new main and it’s ready to be in service, then they begin the process of converting over and switching the service lines. It’s not like people will be without water for three days,” he said.
Yarnall added if a customer will be without water they will receive notice from Trussville Gas and Water and it will be during daytime hours so that no one will wake up in the morning without water.
Strength and Yarnall are confident this project will allow Trussville residents and businesses to continue with their daily routines without much interruption.