The Williams/Transco company, which plans to install a natural gas pipeline on the Princeton Ridge, has filed a revised construction plan that commits to turn off the gas in an existing, adjacent pipeline that was put in 56 years ago. The company filed the amended plan with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission this week, according to a press release from the Princeton Ridge Coalition, a local citizens’ group.

“After a lot of discussion, Chris Brown and the Williams engineers are now taking our concerns seriously and worked out a much safer construction plan. We greatly appreciate their efforts,” said Rob Goldston, who chairs the Coalition’s Safety Committee.

The company will use three crews working in tandem to accelerate the timeline and reduce the length of the outage for their customers. The plan calls for replacing the natural gas with water in the 36-inch pipeline before removing boulders currently on top of the existing pipeline. Williams will then build a bridge on top of that pipeline to allow heavy equipment to work while constructing the new line nearby.

After the new pipeline is installed and the trench is backfilled, they will hydrotest the old pipeline at one and a half times maximum operating pressure to make visible injurious dents or other damage that may have occurred during construction. Following testing, the line will be refilled with gas.

According to the Williams company, the plan can only be implemented if extra hours are approved for Mondays to Saturdays, and occasionally Sundays. The Coalition plans to meet with affected residents to discuss the implications of extended work hours.