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Century Takes Step Toward Repairing Gas Leak Under Highway 29
February 22, 2011
The Town of Century is moving forward in an effort to secure over a million dollars to eliminate a “major public safety issue” created by gas leaking under Highway 29 — but the fix is not likely to happen until late in the year.
Monday, the town entered into an engineering agreement with Fabre Engineering to design new gas lines along Highway 29 to replace the leaking pipe. Three other engineering firms applied for the job, but Fabre scored highest on the town’s criteria when proposals were opened.
About 6,515 feet of four-inch steel natural gas line was buried beneath the southbound lanes of Highway 29 when the road was widened. Now, 45 years since the pipe was put into the ground, the town believes the steel is corroding and leaking.
Engineer Dale Long’s latest estimate on new gas lines is $1.19 million, but he warned that number is subject to change.
Long said paperwork should be complete by June to seek USDA Rural Development loan funding for the project. After Rural Development’s review process, Long said it would be fall “at best” before work would actually begin on the project.
“We will proceed as quickly and cautiously as we can,” he said.
The funds will be used to construct new natural gas lines on both sides of Highway, abandoning the decades-old leaking pipe. By installing gas lines on both sides of the highway, it would eliminate the need to bore under the highway for a new service install.
The Florida Public Service Commission has told the town that progress must be made toward eliminating the problem by the end of the year.
Pictured: A portion of Highway 29 in Century. Decades-old natural gas line is buried under the southbound lanes on the left and is leaking somewhere between this location and West Highway 4, over a mile away.
Comments
18 Responses to “Century Takes Step Toward Repairing Gas Leak Under Highway 29”
What is the current status of this now??
34 or 35 psi on the line per the gas department. so less than a tenth the oomph of a 400 psi line
eab, I doubt Ricky would be willing to give money to this project. It’s in a small town….and a poor town. While I think poorer towns and individuals need help, I tend to believe he’d contribute money if it was in a more affluent area of Florida. Century needs to solve the problem…not the U.S. Government or even the State of Florida.
The San Bruno, CA explosion was pretty severe — that was a 30 inch pipeline that was put in in 1956, and was carrying gas at close to 400 PSI.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_San_Bruno_pipeline_explosion
This Highway 29 pipe is a four inch line, according to the story. The story doesn’t say what pressure it runs at, but if it’s the same, I think the amount of damage it could do if it burst is about 2% of the San Bruno explosion. Still not a good thing, of course.
They will have to repaire it after the EXPLOSION!
even bald people have hair, the body just pushes it out ere it gets very long.
David said:
I only suggest the experiment because I know it won’t. (You might loose a little hair, but it’ll grow back.) Not enough gas, not enough containment to build up pressure.
I said:
Man, am I glad to hear that! i lost my hair 10-15 years ago. Nice to know it’s gonna grow back. Err…when?
And then I said:
Gotta go with james. the federal government is broke. If locals need these types of fixes, we need to figure out how to finance it ourselves.Or…we could check with Ricky about helping out.
Thank y’all for the information. It puts my mind at ease for now.
REGARDING:
“the blast will flatten buildings in all directions for quite a distance, and can travel through gas lines to other areas”
take a toy balloon.
fill it with natural gas.
tie it off.
take it outside and tie it to a limb or something.
set fire to a piece of news paper and hold the flame to the balloon. (hold your breath while doing so, lest you inhale any flame)
see if it blew up houses hundreds of feet away (and if it killed you in the process)
I only suggest the experiment because I know it won’t. (You might loose a little hair, but it’ll grow back.) Not enough gas, not enough containment to build up pressure.
If the leak is very small, it would be similar to your balloon. If it were very large, they would have found it by now.
I am surprised that the governmen, knowing they and the gas provider, can be sued, would allow this dangerous situation to go unresolved! You do NOT have to be close to a gas line when it explodes…the blast will flatten buildings in all directions for quite a distance, and can travel through gas lines to other areas! Put some preasure on the government to fix it!!!
No if it did blow up gas would not rush all the pipes. Gas only “blow up” when it has formed the perfect mixture to air which is I believe is 4.5 to 15.5. But it would just be that general area. I personally agree with some of the others in thinking that if this is a “major public safety issue”, then it would have been fixed long before now or the public service agency would be demanding it be fixed immediatly. As for shutting off the gas, the only way that would work is if they could valve off that 6000 feet of leaking pipe but then all the businesses in that area would be out of gas and WE would be out of a flame broiled burger
REGARDING:
“I only use gas to heat my home. does anyone know if it would help to have it turned off until the leak is fixed. We can heat another way. I don’t know, but I believe that if the fire starts it will go through all of the gas lines, and won’t matter which route you live in, or will it only affect the people who live in that area? I’m hoping if there’s no gas in my line it won’t rush to my house! Does anyone know?”
Let not your heart be troubled.
A leak is caused by a hole in a pressurized pipe. Your use of gas flowing through that pipe won’t cause it to leak more.
Fire does not happen without oxygen and fuel. There is no oxygen inside the gas line, only fuel, so a fire at the point of the leak will not set the lines on fire all the way to every house and all the way back to Texas or wherever it is coming from.
David comforting the worried
I only use gas to heat my home. does anyone know if it would help to have it turned off until the leak is fixed. We can heat another way. I don’t know, but I believe that if the fire starts it will go through all of the gas lines, and won’t matter which route you live in, or will it only affect the people who live in that area? I’m hoping if there’s no gas in my line it won’t rush to my house! Does anyone know?
The U.S. government doesn’t need to give out grants to pay for these projects. It’s bankrupt already. Why do cities have to rely on the U.S. government for funding of something like this? Raise taxes or cities should cover this cost.
Yes It could blow up. There was just this same situation up north last week where several homes where blown to pieces and some people were killed. I’ve seen this myself in California where a neighborhood was flattened. And each time I comment on this leak which has been going on now for 6-7 weeks people act like I’m over reacting. Google gas leaks and you will find lots of explosions from this same situation.
Could this blow up? I’m thinking about the people who smoke and throw the unused portion out of the window. Just wondering!
glad i don’t live along that particular route.
It surprise’s me that a major public safety issue like this can be put off till later this year. I understand it will take a while to plan and execute, but the sooner the better.