Roadwork at Corona over soon

The long-running projects at the North McDowell Boulevard intersections with Corona Road and Sunrise Parkway should be over by next Wednesday, Nov. 4, according to PG&E and the city's public works department.

While much of the work was done at night, an underground AT&T conduit was accidentally smashed and had to be repaired immediately, during daylight hours, causing horrendous rush-hour backups.

PG&E has been inspecting and repairing a natural gas line that runs up North McDowell, inspections mandated by state and federal laws. It is just completing the first of two phases.

“The problem has been that this is a very busy intersection and no one wanted to be doing work out there,” said Mike Krist, public works planner II who has been working with PG&E on the project. “Night work has been done mostly, but the day work was a sidebar to the accident. It had to be done during the day for emergency purposes.”

Krist said the remaining work, including paving over cuts in the roadbed, would be done at night, temperatures permitting. All the phase-one work should be done by Wednesday.

The initial phase looked at the stretch of pipeline and found that repairs were necessary before the next stage can commence some time next year. Phase two will not involve tearing up Petaluma streets.

“We’ve been doing some preparation work, using a tool to collect the physical geometry of the pipeline, and found obstructions,” PG&E spokesperson Jana Morris said. “What we're trying to do is to remove the obstructions, to use a tool that will find leakage or corrosion.”

In Phase two, a magnetic flux leakage tool, known as a “pig,” will be run through the gas pipes sometime in 2010. The pig is pushed through the pipes by gas pressure and takes video and electronic readings of the pipe interiors. Future pipeline repairs might result from the findings.

(Contact Jay Gamel at argus@arguscourier.com)