Barrow Gets New Gas Main

One of Barrow’s characteristic landmarks, the old unsafe above-surface gas distribution system (left), disappeared last summer. Taking its place is a $4.989 million buried system whose only verifiable evidence is an occasional control valve (below left).

The system was installed by Arctic Slope Alaska under contract with the Army Corps of Engineers, which managed the project for the BIA.

 
The installation took place during the winter, when special machinery was used to cut a trench in the frozen ground for laying in Driscopipe 8000, a flexible 8-inch polyethylene-plastic conduit able to withstand frozen ground movement.