Avista gas to fuel growth
Josh Radezky, a fitter for Avista Utilities, shovels dirt out of a trench as laborer Jeff Connor performs a techniques called air knifing to create an underground path while working on replacing gas lines in this 2014 photo. (Press File)
By BRIAN WALKER
Staff Writer
POST FALLS — Avista Utilities is about to step on the gas for much-needed additional capacity in Post Falls.
The company is planning a natural gas reinforcement project this spring and summer because one of two pipelines that serve Post Falls, Williams Northwest, has reached its maximum capacity, said David Smith, Avista’s natural gas distribution engineer.
"The growth in the Post Falls and neighboring areas has caused the natural gas demand to exceed the amount of natural gas carried by the existing transmission pipeline serving the area," he said.
"This reinforcement project will allow Avista to receive natural gas from a second transmission pipeline into the Post Falls area to serve existing customers and will support future growth in the area."
Smith said service has not been interrupted in Post Falls, but the potential is there with the current system at capacity, especially during cold weather.
"In the past five years we have experienced cold weather events that prompted Avista to anticipate interruption of service to customers should temperatures have continued to decrease," Smith said. "That is a situation we never want to happen to our customers. These cold-weather events have substantiated the need for reinforcing the natural gas system."
The start of the project will be at Hayden Avenue and Idaho Road and the end will be on Spokane and 20th streets, where there is an existing pipeline. Most of the construction will be on the east side of Idaho Road. Traffic will be directed by flaggers during the project.
Smith said the project is expected to go out to bid this month. The contractor will be chosen in March. The construction timeline is tentatively slated from April to August.
The Post Falls City Council last Tuesday approved allowing Avista to proceed with the project.
"Avista’s natural gas system does not have a finite life," Smith said. "We are always looking to the future to ensure that customers throughout our system have reliable natural gas service. Customers in the Post Falls and neighboring areas will benefit from this project for decades to come."
Smith said compaction testing and pavement restoration will be done according to the city’s standards. There will be no seams left in the traveling lane, he said.