Colorado Springs Utilities is installing a high-pressure natural gas main under Kettle Creek to proactively replace one threatened by advanced creek-bed erosion on Colorado Springs’s north side.

Utilities engineer Aaron Cassio called the $1.8 million project “unique” due to its magnitude, but addressing the aging infrastructure was necessary to preserve reliable and safe natural gas delivery.

“Due to the creek’s advanced erosion and what we expect to see over the next few years, we want to make sure we’re taking care of our infrastructure,” he said.

Many Utilities pipes and wires that cross dry creeks can be strained by water from heavy rains or melting snow, especially causing concern for natural gas mains, according to a Utilities news release.

The new, 1,800-foot pipeline in the Briargate area will deliver natural gas to 70,000 customers through a pipe 100 feet underground and approximately 30 feet below the

bottom of the creek bed. The current pipeline will be abandoned once the new pipeline is active and customer utilities are not expected to be disrupted.

The Kettle Creek Project had a threeyear planning phase, but workers arrived on the site near Old Ranch Road and Interquest Parkway in November and plan to wrap in April. The project’s timeline has been partially controlled by an unlikely, furry factor.

Home to the threatened Preble’s meadow jumping mouse, the job site is in critical habitat for these mice, native only to Colorado and Wyoming. Utilities has been working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to minimize impact on these tiny animals, which have been listed as threatened since 1998. Because the Preble’s dormant period is from September through April, however, Utilities has been working to complete the job in this window.

Utilities also consulted internal environmentalists and completed external environmental studies, including a Geotechnical report of the creek to ensure the project was not affecting anything in the riparian zone. “We just want to be respectful of the wildlife,” Cassio said.

A 10-man crew is using a giant reamer attached to a directional drill to bore a 30-inch-diameter tunnel under the creek through rock, limestone and concrete before a 60,000-pound pipe is fed through from the other side starting Monday. The directional drill was selected for the process due to its lower environmental impact than other methods of installation.

Kettle Creek erosion and the Preble’s dormancy were factors Utilities considered when selecting this area to be the first phase of an infrastructure project that will replace 5 miles of natural gas pipelines in Colorado Springs.

The Kettle Creek Project is being completed by internal experts with Utilities, who have fronted the engineering, operations, project management, surveying and more. Hiring external contractors might have added over $5 million to the project cost.

“Colorado Springs Utilities really prides itself in investing in its people, like myself,” said Cassio, who has been with Utilities for four years and was involved with planning the project.

“Being the one designing it (the pipeline), it’s really cool to actually see this all come together.”