Duane Hicks
Union Gas will wrap up its three-year project to replace 17.2 km of natural gas lines in Fort Frances this spring, then move on to complete a new project here.
In a presentation at last night’s council meeting, Union Gas utility services and construction manager Luke Skaarup said that in May, one Link Line crew will be coming here to finish off the gas line replacement and the abandonment of the old pipe system, as well plant grass seed at any spots they missed.
The work should take four-five weeks, and involve digging about 200 sites.
When all is said and done, the $10-million project will have seen the replacement of 17.2 km of vintage steel natural gas lines with yellow medium density plastic lines, along with 995 service reconnections, 524 new services, 316 meter set rebuilds, 100 meter replacements, and 1,275 regulator replacements.
Skaarup noted the new gas line infrastructure has more valves, and that gas flow can be isolated in eight sections.
This would be helpful in crisis situations, such as the explosion at J.W. Walker School back in February, 2008.
A second project Union Gas will be undertaking is the rebuild of its town border station (TBS), which will begin in June.
Crews will be removing the old TBS, which is located at Nelson Street and Mowat Avenue, and build a new one on the 400 block of Mowat Avenue.
This will take 10-12 weeks to complete.
Skaarup said there’s two reasons for the new TBS: it’s an older town border station, and the location—near the off-loading yard for trucks at the mill—is less than ideal.
Looking further ahead, Skaarup said Union Gas will continue to conducts leak surveys throughout the winter months, continue third-party observation and municipal excavations, take an active role with the Fort Frances Chamber of Commerce and the town’s Community Control Group, and participate in “Helping Hands” projects, such as the sun shelter they built on Daniel Avenue last fall.
Several members of town management and council thanked Skaarup for the professional work Union Gas and Link Line have done here over the past two years.
“It’s amazing to me that this project is entering its third year and I have yet to receive a complaint of the construction going on in the community,” said Fort Frances CAO Mark McCaig.
