New Gas Pipeline Moves Ahead Upstate

Riding the recent wave of environmental conservation, Millennium Pipeline Company has launched several projects to distribute natural gas to the surrounding areas.

The most recent is the construction of a pipeline across New York’s Southern Tier and lower Hudson Valley.

The new Millennium Pipeline will be 182 miles long and 30 inches in diameter. Buried at least six feet underground, the pipeline will have the capacity to deliver up to 525,400 dekatherms per day to any customer who is currently supplied with gas from NYSEG, Orange & Rockland Utilities, Keyspan Energy, Corning Natural Gas, Central Hudson Gas & Electric and Con Edison.

The project is a replacement of the Columbia A-5 line, which is nearly 60 years old and owned by Columbia Gas Transmission Corp. The existing pipeline was only 10 inches in diameter and disintegrating from age.

“The current resources for natural gas are inadequate,” said Mike Armiak, a Millenium spokesman.  “With the new Millennium Pipeline in place, we will have the infrastructure to serve the anticipated demand and minimize the over-reliance on the Gulf of Mexico Gas Supply.”

To complete the sometimes-tricky pipeline installation, side boom tractors, hydraulic excavators, welding rigs, pipe trucks, bending machines and rock drills will be used. And the team has already run into a few construction difficulties.

“The three main challenges are the presence of rocky soil, primarily on the eastern end, hilly terrain and having to work within a narrow, 75-foot right-of-way,” said Allan Johnson, Construction Manager for Millennium Pipeline Company.

Vegetation will also be cleared to make room for the natural gas pipeline, but the construction team plans do it before 2008 to avoid killing off an endangered bat species that dwells part of the year along the pipeline route.

This pipeline is actually the largest included in Millenium’s “NE 07 Project,” which includes new facilities for the Algonquin Gas Transmission, Empire State Pipeline and Iroquiois Gas Transmission. The primary supply for the Millennium Pipeline will be provided through an interconnection with the Empire State Pipeline.

After receiving approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, construction on the line began in the end of June 2007. The goal is to lay 12 miles of pipe during 2007 and the remaining 169 miles will be completed in November 2008, with restoration continuing into 2009.

After construction, we will monitor the right-of-way for three years to makes sure successful restoration has been accomplished,” said Johnson. “And some environmental monitoring activities may be performed longer than three years, based on regulatory requirements.”

Work Begins on I-490 Rehab

July saw the start of the $36 million New York State Department of Transportation project to improve pavement conditions on Interstate 490 in Rochester.

The 3.5-mile section of highway stretches from a new arch bridge over the Genesee River, and a bridge spanning the Erie Canal, located just east of Interstate 390 in Monroe County.

The six-lane divided highway is separated into eastern and western portions, each of which will be receiving a different treatment. The western section, which is concrete, will be broken up and recycled into a base material to be re-paved, and will be covered with an eight-inch asphalt overlay. The eastern section will be deep milled and paved with a four-inch overlay of asphalt. A fourth westbound lane will be constructed for drivers exiting at Ames Street, and a new eastbound on-ramp will be built, as well.

In addition, the bridge that carry’s the highway over Mt. Read Boulevard will be replaced, along with 11 other bridge structures that are scheduled for improvement. Noise walls will be built between Ames Street and Mt. Read Boulevard and the center guide rails will be replaced with a concrete barrier to reduce the risk of crossover accidents.

The project marks the final phase of NYSDOT’s $92 million, six-contract Western Gateway program to improve I-490 through Rochester's core. The project included the construction of the Troup-Howell Bridge over the Genesee River.

“[This is] the final contract undertaken by NYSDOT aimed at improving the Western Gateway serving Rochester commuters and visitors from the west,” said NYSDOT Commissioner Astrid Glynn.

Construction, led by Sealand Construction of Rush, N.Y., is expected to be completed in December 2009.

Road crews will spend most of 2008 strengthening the shoulders of the roadway and building median crossovers. Long-term lane and shoulder closures will be in effect between I-390 and Rochester’s Inner Loop. The westbound lanes will be under construction near the end of 2008, with the eastbound lanes getting started in early- to mid- 2009.

Portal Bridge Project Inches Forward in NJ

New Jersey Transit officials recently gave the green light to the final phase of environmental work for the proposed replacement of the Portal Bridge.

The nearly 100-year-old span carries train traffic over the Hackensack River just west of Seacaucus Junction in northern New Jersey. NJ Transit is looking to increase rail capacity on the moveable, swing-span bridge, and have authorized the Final Environmental Impact Study for coordinating that project with the Access to the Region’s Core project, which will feature the construction of a new two-track tunnel under the Hudson River over the next 10 years.

“A new Portal Bridge crossing will have an immediate impact on thousands of our customers by reducing delays associated with the bridge’s operation,” said Richard Sarles, executive director of NJ Transit. “Addressing this aging bridge … is of vital importance viewed in the context of the [ARC].”

The Portal Bridge crossing will eventually accommodate increased peak-period train traffic. The existing bridge carries 23 trains per hour, which is near its capacity. Because it has only 23 feet of clearance between the mean high water level and the lowest steel elevation, marine traffic on the river requires the frequent opening of the bridge, which disrupts train traffic.

Traffic is also snarled on the tracks because of two bottlenecks – one at Swift Interlocking and the other at Seacuacus Junction – that require trains to merge from four tracks to two tracks. One of the goals laid out by NJ Transit was to eliminate such cases of “operational inflexibility.”

The findings of the EIS are expected to be released at the end of 2007, with a final decision on how to move forward expected in early 2008.

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