PSE Natural Gas Pipeline Construction Project about to Begin; Utility's Pipeline Extension Bringing Natural Gas Service to Upper Kittitas County.

BELLEVUE, Wash. -- Puget Sound Energy plans to begin a 20-mile pipeline-construction project this month that by year's end will bring natural gas service, for the first time, to homes and businesses in Upper Kittitas County.

PSE recently began off-loading the project's 12-inch-diameter steel pipe from rail cars onto staging areas in Ellensburg and Cle Elum. Soon after the Fourth of July holiday, crews will begin preparing off-road sites near Cle Elum and Thorp for mid- to late-July boring of pipeline holes beneath Interstate 90 and the Yakima River, and for crossing Taneum Creek. This work will be followed by trenching and pipe installation in BNSF Railroad right-of-way from the eastern outskirts of Cle Elum into the center of town.

The utility anticipates the pipeline trenching required on Cle Elum street rights-of-way will occur next, and that remaining construction in Kittitas County roads will occur after about mid-August.

"We're extremely pleased to see this important project get underway," said Paul Wiegand, PSE's vice president of project development and contract management. "Our new Kittitas County gas customers should be pleased, too, once they start heating their homes and cooking their meals with natural gas."

The buried pipeline's authorized route largely follows public roads from Thorp northwestward into Cle Elum. From Thorp, the route runs primarily along Thorp Cemetery Road, Taneum Road, Thorp Prairie Road, I-90 right-of-way, Lower Peoh Point Road, McDonald Road, State Route 970, and finally, BNSF Railroad right-of-way.

Once the pipeline leaves BNSF right-of-way in Cle Elum and crosses Oakes Avenue, it will run a block north on Billings Avenue, then west along First Street West and Ranger Station Road, and finally along an existing PSE electric transmission-line corridor before reaching its terminus near PSE's Cascade Substation west of Cle Elum. In all, less than a mile of Cle Elum streets will be disrupted by the project.

"This project is going to cause some unavoidable traffic interruptions and delays along the route, both inside Cle Elum and out along county roads," Wiegand said. "But we're working with state, county, and city officials to limit the inconvenience as much as practical for motorists and local residents."

Construction crews are planning to work 10-hour days, Monday through Saturday, in an effort to complete all pipeline work on public roads by late October. To lessen traffic delays, crews will perform their work in relatively short, successive stretches -- trenching, installing pipe, and then repairing the roadway before moving to the next segment along the route.

Through traffic is planned to be restricted on the individual sections of county road where construction occurs, with access in the construction zones limited to local residents, emergency vehicles, or others with a specific need for access (such as school buses). Where possible, alternate routes will be made available to bypass the segments of road where pipeline construction is underway. Efforts will also be made to schedule work so as to avoid impacts on local hay harvests.

Puget Sound Energy will make every effort, Wiegand said, to provide residents and businesses with 10 to 14 days' notice before the street or road in their immediate vicinity is disrupted. In coming weeks, he noted, PSE will be providing more specifics to the public on the timing of construction activity at particular locations along the project route.

Weather permitting, permanent repairs will quickly be made to roadways disturbed by trenching, Wiegand said. If cold fall weather makes it impractical to lay asphalt surfacing in some areas, some temporary road patching may be required, followed by permanent resurfacing next spring.