It’s not every day you see a massive fire coming out of the road in a busy intersection in Colorado Springs. But that is exactly what happened Dec. 17-18 as our gas construction crews worked on one of the biggest projects of 2020.
Later this year, the City will be rebuilding a bridge over Spring Creek, adding a pedestrian walkway to the bridge. In preparation for that work, Colorado Springs Utilities is busy re-routing 20” and 4” steel gas mains.
“We are responsible for relocating gas mains for the City so they can safely excavate the bridge this spring and put in a new one,” said Clinton Phipps, the weld inspector for the project. “This has been quite the project. We’ve had to stop the flow of Spring Creek. We had to carefully plan and execute our strategy so as to not take any customers out of gas service.”
Re-routing of the gas mains took a couple months to complete. In addition to our own crews working the project, we also had T.D. Williamson do the taps and stops on the main to help the entire process go quicker.
The gas line that was shut down still had pressure in it--in this case 150 P.S.I. In order to blow down the pressure, smaller control fittings are welded to the main and tapped to provide a means to release the pressure. Since this is 100% gas, we light it off to burn the excess gas off at the ends of the stacks--thus the great ball of fire that can be seen from the street. Since gas is lighter than air, it has a tendency to go up anyway, helping to draw any residual gas out of the line.
The reason the bridge needs to be re-built is because the creek drains a densely developed watershed that produces high flow rates from summer storms on a relatively frequent basis. The creek flow has overtopped the roadway on several occasions. Flood flow crossing the roadway is a hazard to motorists and pedestrians and could affect response times of the fire department during times when they are most needed.
The existing 1964 bridge does not accommodate pedestrian traffic and is located in a community that is dependent on pedestrian accessibility. This situation results in pedestrians sometimes walking in the traffic lanes of this busy roadway which is very hazardous. In addition to now allowing for future growth in the area, the project will improve the appearance of the neighborhood and contribute to a more economically-vibrant and walkable community.
“I’m so proud of the work that we have accomplished,” Phipps said. “Our crews have done an outstanding job with every aspect of this project and are focused on getting it done on time. The customers who live in this area have no clue what we just completed: for them everything was business as usual. And that’s the way we like it.”
The Airport Road over Spring Creek Bridge replacement is a voter-approved, Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority (PPRTA) II, A-listed project. The required major utility relocations work is jointly funded by PPRTA II and Colorado Springs Utilities. The total cost for re-routing the gas main is around $950,000. To learn more about this project, go to the City’s website.