Construction began this week to replace natural gas lines on Waltham Avenue in Manitou Springs. The effort is part of Colorado Springs Utilities’ Distribution Integrity Management Program (DIMP), which aims to replace bare steel gas lines, which are susceptible to corrosion and leaks. Manitou’s natural gas lines are part of CSU’s system, which is composed of 2,751 miles of main lines, including 1.87 miles of bare, unprotected steel main lines. The four-inch main line on Waltham Avenue, installed in 1974, is being replaced, along with 41 service lines to individual homes.
The project is expected to last through the summer, and is part of a 2025 consent agreement with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration due to corroded and leaking natural gas lines. The consent agreement requires CSU to replace bare steel lines within a 10-year timeframe, from 2025 through 2034.
During an informational meeting in Manitou Springs last week, Jane Zook, CSU’s community education administrator, said the project would start May 11.
“The expected completion is sometime in July,” she said. “We are not going to give it a firm date as of now, but that’s the expected completion … I know this causes undue inconvenience for residents. It’s kind of like getting a new kitchen. It’s really dusty and messy and annoying when it’s going on, but when it’s over, everything’s new and shiny, so it just requires a little patience.”
During the project, parking and driving on Waltham will be impacted during the day, but residents will be able to park at night. “Once that work is completed during the day and you have to move your cars – perhaps not all cars will have to be moved all at once,” said Zook. “You can come back at night and park.”
CSU will bore a series of potholes into Waltham to find existing service lines. “There will be approximately 18 or so potholes along the Waltham Avenue route,” Zook said. “When they go to do the services, there’ll be two to three potholes per service line in order to get visual [confirmation of the lines]. So you’ll see potholes and those potholes will also be covered at night.”
CSU won’t have to dig up Waltham Avenue to replace the main line, but will have to dig trenches to individual homes for service lines. “It’s going to be challenging to install these service lines,” said Zook. “Those will not be bored because of the width of the street. These almost all, 41 [service lines] will be open trenched and there will be some disruption to the road and to the concrete going to your house as we install these new lines.”
Jeff Kretzer, a CSU gas construction supervisor, noted that some work might need to be done around gas meters at homes. “Some of the concrete that’s like right by the gas riser … we are required to cut a 12-inch hole around the concrete by the gas riser,” he said. “We’ll try to keep it as minimal as we can.”
Zook noted that as individual lines are replaced, customers can expect a two- to four-hour gas outage, but that CSU staff would be available to assist customers with relighting their gas appliances and conducting safety checks. The construction will be done in four sections of 90- to 300-feet of Waltham Avenue at a time.
After all the gas lines are replaced, CSU will repair Waltham Avenue. “Final restoration is done usually between four to six weeks following the job,” said Zook. “That is repaving … and then putting things back permanently after we’ve completed.”
