July 24. By Dave Vieser. For months heavy duty machinery has been operating on the west side of Hwy. 21/Statesville Road, working on something underground. No project had ever been announced for this area, a portion of which is adjacent to the Augustalee property, so inquiring minds at Cornelius Today reached out to various municipalities and utilities to find out just what indeed was going on.

The answer: Piedmont Natural Gas is reinforcing and installing a high pressure gas pipeline which will connect an existing underground gas line running southwest to northeast through northern Huntersville and southern Cornelius to a new regulating station which is being installed on Westmoreland Road just east of Catawba Avenue.

“The purpose of this pipeline is to upgrade a portion of existing pipe, provide additional natural gas service to the area, and to increase the reliability of service to our existing customers in the region,” said Piedmont spokeswoman Jennifer Sharpe.
“The pipeline is approximately four miles long. On the south end, it continues down Statesville Road to Gilead Road in Huntersville.”

About two miles of the project is to upgrade/replace an existing pipeline, while the remainder of the project is new pipeline, again to provide for growth and to increase reliability of service in the immediate area.

The project is about 2/3 done and the remaining work should take approximately six months to complete. Company officials declined to reveal the cost of the project “since the project is still under way,” Sharpe said.

Getting approval for the location of the new regulation station on Westmoreland Road was a lengthy involved process which ultimately required the granting of a 35 foot variance from the usual 170 foot setback required  on Westmoreland Road. The variance was unanimously approved by the Cornelius Planning Board on June 10.