November 26, 2014 - KUB and its contractor, Southeastern Connections, are scheduled to begin a project to install six miles of natural gas pipeline between the University of Tennessee golf practice facility at 2614 Osprey Vista Way and the KUB Topside Road Natural Gas Gate Station at 3715 Topside Road on Monday, December 1, 2014.
Initial stages of this project will begin with vegetation pruning and clearance in the right-of-way, followed by installation of the pipeline. All work will be completed in reasonable segments so that the entire project length will not be impacted at the same time.
This project will provide a portion of the connecting pipeline that will allow the University of Tennessee to convert its coal-fired steam plant to natural gas by late 2015. This plant conversion will remove the second largest source of airborne pollution in East Tennessee, and will be the equivalent of taking 7,000 passenger vehicles off the road each day. Additionally, this pipeline will improve the overall reliability of KUB's natural gas distribution system, and allow for future natural gas demands.
This is the second phase in the overall project. The first phase, which included pipeline installation across a two-mile span from the UT golf practice facility to the Fulton Bottoms area near the UT campus, has been completed. Phase three, which will span the final two miles of the project from a new natural gas regulating station at Metron Way to the UT Steam Plant, will begin upon completion of phase two. Construction on phase two is scheduled for completion by June 2015.
Construction methods will include conventional trenching, boring, and directional drilling. Some weekend work may be required to meet project milestone dates.
KUB will post regular updates throughout the project on its website at
www.kub.org, and on the KUB Facebook page. Additionally, KUB has set up a blog at
kubsouthloop.blogspot.com to keep customers informed about project milestones. Customers can send their e-mail address to
[email protected] (please reference South Loop in the subject line) to receive updates on the project. Customers can also call 558-2331 after normal business hours to leave a message that will be followed-up with a call from a KUB representative by the end of the next business day.
KUB, a municipal utility serving Knox and parts of seven adjacent counties, provides reliable electric, gas, water, and wastewater services to more than 445,000 customers.