Crews from South Jersey Gas huddled around an open gas main Monday for a group photo to cap off a $103.5 million construction project intended to better protect shore-town gas customers during major weather events.
The project, called the Storm Hardening and Reliability Program, or SHARP, converted natural gas distribution mains from a low-pressure to a high-pressure system in several shore towns to prevent utility failures that many customers experienced during Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
“We had the low-pressure during Hurricane Sandy, and what happened was water and sand got into the system and discontinued service,” South Jersey Gas President Dave Robbins said. “We won’t have that anymore.”
The gas company replaced 92 miles of gas-distribution mains in Atlantic and Cape May counties since construction began in 2014. About 11,000 service lines that led to individual homes and businesses were also replaced.
The construction included the replacement of old cast-iron gas lines with new plastic polyethylene lines. Excess flow valves were installed on the new lines, which are designed to automatically shut off gas flow in the event of a line break.