On 11 May, Stadtwerke Gießen will begin renovating natural gas and water pipes in the Westanlage, Südanlage and Frankfurter Straße areas. The major construction site will be set up on 4 May.
Over the coming months, Stadtwerke Gießen (SWG) will be renovating natural gas pipes in the Westanlage, Südanlage and Frankfurter Straße areas. The energy specialists from Lahnstrasse will be replacing old grey cast iron pipes with modern plastic pipes. The extensive construction work serves an important purpose: to maintain the usual high level of supply reliability.
In order not to put undue strain on residents and road users in Giessen, those responsible at SWG decided to carry out work that was due to be completed in the next few years at the same time. "Because the water pipes are already relatively old, we are using the open trenches. This saves everyone involved a lot of trouble," says Ina Weller, SWG company spokesperson, explaining the procedure.
Complex process, elaborate planning
During the construction work, there should be as few restrictions to the supply as possible. This requires detailed planning. First, SWG lays the new pipes, which are then connected to the network. Then the fitters hang the house connections. Only when they are working do they remove the old pipes and fittings from the ground. This process is not only time-consuming, but also requires a relatively large amount of space. "Where this is not available, we build temporary bypasses," explains Stefan Ruckstuhl, project manager at SWG. The old trees, particularly in the western section, also have an impact on the construction work. To protect them, SWG is routing the cables around them.
This additional project-specific work will take more time. Those responsible at SWG currently expect to complete the major project in June 2021 - provided that everything goes as planned and a cold winter with weeks of ground frost does not make earthworks impossible for an extended period of time.
Unavoidable restrictions
SWG will of course keep all access roads to courtyards open at all times. The pavements will also remain usable as usual. However, the work will cause massive disruption to traffic. "We ask for your understanding today and promise to do everything we can to minimise the disruption," says Ina Weller. In fact, the division of the overall construction project into four construction phases takes precisely this requirement into account. "In this way, we can limit the restrictions to a certain extent in terms of space and time and cancel any necessary closures once a section has been completed," explains Stefan Ruckstuhl.
Right at the start of the work, Frankfurter Straße will be closed out of town from the junction with Südanlage to the Wieseck Bridge. Cars, lorries and buses will only have one lane available in both directions on Südanlage. As the work progresses, the traffic routing will be continually adapted to the new situation.
To ensure that the renovation project can start on time on 11 May, BAS, the company commissioned by SWG, will begin marking out new lanes, closing off areas and putting up lots of signs on 4 May - a week earlier.