At a public meeting at Marsteller Middle School Wednesday, employees of Dominion Transportation, Inc. explained residents might hear loud noises, and landscaping around Tartan Hills Parkway and Vint Hill Road will be temporarily compromised over the next several months.
Other than those inconveniences, Dominion explained that most of the construction will occur out of site, since gas lines are currently located along right-of-way, beneath power lines. The new pipeline would be laid along the same corridor just 10 feet from the old gas line, and construction would be held in March through November.
According to Ryan Lucent, an engineer with Dominion Transportation, Inc., the Tartan Hills Parkway is the only location where they are digging within a residential neighborhood.
Chuck Penn, Media Relations Manager for Dominion, explained that the project should cause only minimal inconvenience to Braemar residents.
“Being that we will be boring under Tartan Hills Parkway for the new segment of pipeline, the roadway will not be closed. The construction activity will be sporadic and should not cause traffic tie-ups in the community,” Penn said.
However, he tells residents to expect some construction vehicles using their roadways.
“Vehicles entering and leaving the easement will occasionally cause brief tie-ups,” Penn said, “but this should result in minimal disruption.”
At one point, the construction would also intersect Vint Hill Road in Nokesville. However, the majority of construction will not take place near motor roads.
The construction is scheduled in stages, which may overlap at different points along the pipeline. First topsoil will be removed. Next, the new pipeline will be hauled onto the right-of-way to be welded and coated. Then, a ditch will be dug, and the new pipeline installed.
After installation of the new pipeline, the old one will be excavated and removed without interruption of service. Finally, Dominion will grade and seed the land and restore it
as much as possible to its original condition.
In a phone interview, Penn insured the landscape would be returned to its former condition.
“(Braemar residents) can expect that we are going to give them the respect they are rightfully due in terms of consummating this process. There have been some concerns in terms of traffic and aesthetics. We’re going to approach it as though it was our own home, our own subdivision. There will not be any discernible difference in the beauty and aesthetics. It’s going to look as good as before we got started,” Penn said.
Dominion will also be taking the safety precaution of installing a fence along the entire western boundary of the right-of-way through the community, and open ditches will be completely fenced or barricaded after work hours.
Also, for safety purposes, Dominion is restricted from exposing more than 3,000 feet of open ditch at one time.
Dominion employees told residents that they should expect to hear infrequent and short bursts of down blowing, or air blasting. They will sound as loud as a rock concert or chain saw from a 50-foot distance.
The pipeline must be replaced due to federal safety standards, which require the use of a pipeline with thicker walls when the area has a denser population.
Residents should expect tree trimming and clearance to commence in March. Dominion will then begin construction in May. Representatives of the corporation say they expect the project will be completed by November.
Anticipated work hours are weekdays 7 a.m. to dark, Saturday 9 a.m. to dark, and Sunday, only as required due to construction demands.
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