A lot of the west side of Blue Earth has seen construction going on with crews from companies working for CenterPoint Energy have been busy installing new natural gas lines. Most have been going in the areas of sidewalks. Later new lines from the main lines to the homes on each street will be put in, estimated to be done later this month. Homeowners will get a notice from Center Point.

It would be hard not to notice a lot of construction going on in the west side of Blue Earth. There are caution signs, sidewalk closed signs and holes being dug all over part of the Nicollet Street area.

CenterPoint Energy has been upgrading the natural gas infrastructure along multiple streets in Blue Earth for the past several weeks.

The lines are mainly being installed under the sidewalk areas of the streets. The crews are from other companies that have been hired by CenterPoint to do the work.

Most of the new pipe is being installed by boring it underground without the need for trenching.

The main portion of the first part of the project was expected to be done by Tuesday, March 31, and crews were working late on Wednesday, April 1 in order to get a lot of the cleanup work done.

CenterPoint has said that not all of the intersections will be totally restored, as they are in areas slated to be totally under construction at some point with new sewer and water lines, sidewalks and street surfaces.

“Until then customers may see temporary backfill such as dirt or gravel,” an information sheet says.

After completing this main work, CenterPoint says service line work will start that will connect residents’ property to the main. They plan on sending out notices to affected homeowners before the work begins.

Many homes in the construction areas will have new natural gas lines installed from the main line to the house, and many will also have a new gas meter installed at the same time.

Again, CenterPoint says its customers will be notified prior to the gas meter’s replacement or connection to the main line, or both.

Most of the homes being affected by the project are located from South Nicollet Street west to South Holland Street and from Fifth Street to the north, to 10th Street to the south.

However, some other nearby areas are included.

The small flags that are all over that neighborhood are to designate where other underground public utilities, like sewer and water lines, are located.

Many homeowners in the affected area have had some two-man crews come into the homes in the area and locate exactly where the city sewer line goes out of the house and where it hooks up to the main sewer line in the street.

CenterPoint says this is an important safety preparation, done before construction of the gas lines begins.

Most of the traffic impacts will be restrictions on street parking, closure of one sidewalk at a time and lane shifts. Crews will be working with homeowners on maintaining access to and from their property during any of the construction, especially when gaslines go to the houses.

Any additional road closures will be designated by signage.

Anyone wanting more information can contact CenterPoint Energy’s communication specialist at 612-542-6198 or at MNconsruction@centerpointenergy.com.