Gas Lines

I woke up around eight last Monday to the sound of a jackhammer eating away a chunk of asphalt on my street. I was startled and confused.

I know eight is kind of late for those that have jobs, but for a college kid, that’s really early. I went out side to see what was going on, and found a bunch of men digging up my gas meter.

That’s when I realized, it was my street’s turn to get the gas upgrade.

The City of Richmond hired the Trafford Corporation to replace the old cast iron gas lines about 10 years ago. They have been working in the Fan for about 2 years. The upgrade also improves the gas pressure going to the home.

Though most are happy the upgrades are taking place, some are upset that the construction damages the roads.

“They tear up the roads and don’t ever replace anything,” says Kyle Murphy, a Bike messenger. “They just put down a layer of dirt and potholes form about two days later.”

Murphy says it’s dangerous to ride with damaged roads. He could easily hurt is bike or himself. He doesn’t like to ride in the middle of the road, but sometimes he’s forced to, and as we all know, that’s where the cars belong.

Kevin Reed is a foreman for the project and says they should be done in the Fan in three years, but then they have the rest of Richmond to finish before they get to repairing the roads.