Pipeline work will increase capacity to deliver natural gas in Dayton Valley and Douglas County

Pipeline installation under way in Dayton Valley and Douglas County will increase the natural gas capacity for the entire Highway 50 corridor from

Fernley to Lake Tahoe.

Construction started Monday on Highway 395 at Johnson Lane in the final phase of a $5.4 million, three-phase project involving 10 miles of pipeline in Fernley, Dayton and northern Douglas County.

The new pipelines will allow Southwest Gas, Sierra Pacific and Avista Utilities(South Lake Tahoe) to serve an additional 13,000 homes and should be able to accommodate growth at least through winter 2002-2003, Southwest Gas spokesman Roger Buehrer said.

Two weeks ago, Arizona Pipeline crews started digging up Highway 50 roadside from Dayton to the rise at the east end of Dayton Valley.

The project started Aug. 17 in Fernley and is scheduled to wrap up Nov. 15 in Carson Valley, said Kelly Grennan, director of gas operations for Paiute Pipeline, a Southwest Gas subsidiary.

All the work involves Paiute's Carson lateral line, which breaks off in Fernley from the mainline bringing natural gas from Idaho to Reno.

The Dayton segment will help better serve western Lyon County, which has seen phenomenal growth in recent years but has been served by gas lines installed in 1964.

Arizona Pipeline, under contract to Paiute Pipeline, is replacing 5.2 miles of 10-inch pipeline with 20-inch pipeline from the east edge of Dayton to the valve assembly at the ridge separating Dayton and Stagecoach valleys, Grennan said.

That area is served by two pipelines as is much of the Carson lateral. A second 10-inch pipe will remain in place. Work in Dayton should finish in two weeks.

The Douglas County work adds a second pipeline to a 2.4-mile stretch from Johnson Lane to Genoa Lane that presently has a single 8-inch line. The new pipe has a 12-inch diameter, Grennan said.

Once that line is in place, nearly all of the run from Fernley to David Walley's Resort will have double pipelines, except for a few short segments. A single pipeline transports gas to Lake Tahoe.

Pipeline work in the Dayton area accidentally cut gas and phone lines Friday. Arizona Pipeline reportedly called Underground Service Alert to check for underground lines. The line cuts are under investigation, Grennan said.

Gas service was not interrupted but the noon mishap cut a 900-line Nevada Bell line, disrupting phone service to 103 customers. Service was fully restored by 9 p.m., Nevada Bell spokeswoman Heather Alexander said.