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First Posted: 4/14/2014 WILKES-BARRE &#8212; UGI Utilities Inc. is proposing a new route for a gas main in Wilkes-Barre&#8217;s Brookside neighborhood, one that will move it away from most homes and replace aging pipes.
During an informational meeting Monday evening in the Hollenback Fire Station, the utility&#8217;s area engineering manager, Edward Dunlap, told a group of about five residents attending that current distribution line, laid in 1961, lately has been prone to pinhole leaks and needs regular attention.
The new pipe to be installed meets the latest standards and has about a 100-year life expectancy, Dunlap said.
The existing line begins at the Johnson Street Regulator Station near the corner of Johnson and North Main streets, continues along Pennsylvania Avenue, follows Conyngham Street to cross Wilkes-Barre Boulevard and ends near Home Depot in Wilkes-Barre Township.
The upgrade will keep the gas main, which is 12 inches in diameter and pressurized at 282 pounds per square inch, about 75 feet from most homes in the neighborhood. The gas main does not directly serve consumers, and the improvement will not increase UGI&#8217;s potential to add new customers.
It is to begin at the Johnson Street station and follow the Mill Creek Levee, cut through Oakley Lane to connect with North Washington Street, travel east on North Washington then skirt around the residential area near Lion Brewery to reach Conyngham again.
Mayor Tom Leighton introduced Dunlap and UGI/Penn Natural Gas surveyor Bob Lamson. Leighton said the upgrade will be good for the area and will help carry the city into the future.
The project, estimated to cost between $2.6 million and $2.8 million, is one part of a two-phase project. The second phase, which is to cost about $1.4 million, will upgrade the gas main that runs from Home Depot to the Sheetz gas station in Wilkes-Barre Township, Dunlap said. UGI hopes to begin both projects simultaneously in the late spring and complete them in two to three months, he said.
The existing pipe, as it travels on Pennsylvania Avenue, is close to between 300 and 400 homes, Dunlap said. The new route will bring that number down to about three.
&#8220;One of the reasons we routed it this way is we&#8217;re trying to get it away from as many homes as possible,&#8221; Dunlap said.
Bob Smalls lives in one of three homes along Oakley Lane, and he is concerned that the gas main passing his home could create hazard.
&#8220;It&#8217;s safety for everybody except us,&#8221; Smalls said. Oakley Lane is short and narrow and the pipe will be about seven feet from Smalls&#8217; house.
The proposal has been approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Dunlap said, and UGI is waiting for several easements to be finalized before construction can begin.
Given that the line will be laid near Smalls&#8217; and his neighbors&#8217; homes, UGI is to exceed federal standards by burying it 4 feet deep instead of the required 3 feet, and test with water at twice the operating pressure instead of the required 150 percent.
The pipe also is to be coated with an epoxy and employ a cathodic protection system to prevent corrosion, per federal standards, Dunlap said. A senior inspector is to monitor the crew of eight workers during the length of the project.
Leeward Construction Inc. of Honesdale, a regular pipeline contractor for UGI, is to complete the project.
Once the project is complete, the old line is to be severed and abandoned in place, Dunlap said.

UGI proposing new gas main route in W-B’s Brookside