Workers from Southeast Connections, a contractor that specializes in natural gas infrastructure, install a new, plastic gas main for Chattanooga Gas on Dayton Boulevard just south of Browntown Road.Chattanooga Gas is replacing some 2.5 miles of 1950s-era gas main made of steel pipe in Red Bank with a plastic polyethylene pipe.
“It’s just outdated,” gas company spokeswoman Kristie Benson said of the 8-inch diameter steel pipe gas main. “It was a scheduled replacement – just part of our infrastructure improvement process.”
The construction work has been ongoing for a number of weeks along Dayton Boulevard, the city’s main thoroughfare. The new pipe is being installed by Southeast Connections, a contractor that specializes in natural gas infrastructure. It’s based near Atlanta in Conyers, Ga., and has an office in Chattanooga.
Southeast Connections has used horizontal directional drilling to install the new, bright yellow polyethylene pipeline, a process in which a hole is drilled first and then the pipeline is pulled through it, as opposed to digging a trench. The method is commonly used in urban areas, since it’s less disruptive.
“We’ve got about 80 percent of the project done,” Benson said.