Pipeline Replacement to Accommodate a New Aircraft Taxiway

A major international shipping company proposed a new aircraft taxiway and maintenance/loading/unloading areas over a 6” products line that delivered Jet Fuel to their Louisville International Airport terminal.  Because the pipeline is critical to their operations at the airport, and the expansions would put the pipeline under their proposed facilities, the shipping company opted to replace the entire 6” delivery system with a redundant system consisting of twin 6” lines.  Farnsworth Group assisted, on behalf of the pipeline company, with the negotiation of the reimbursement agreement for the new pipeline system and end connection details with the shipping company, and provided full engineering services for the project.  The final design for the new system consisted of two launcher/receiver traps, approximately 4300’ of 6” pipe, metering facilities and loop piping.  All design work was greatly constrained by existing facilities.  

Construction of the new fuel lines required detailed coordination by Farnsworth Group.  Because the system was located completely within the airport property, every worker had to be either escorted or obtain special security clearance.  Escorts were not readily available, so Farnsworth Group worked with all contractors involved to ensure that workers obtained security clearance prior to starting work.   Additionally, the existing 6” line was the sole source of fuel to the shipping company and they could not afford any disruption of fuel to their aircraft fleet.  As such, multiple system downtimes of short duration had to be carefully planned and coordinated.

The project was completed in two phases, with the twin 6” lines installed in Phase 1 - one line was commissioned and the other line was nitrogen blanketed upon completion of phase 1.  Phase 2 consisted of metering facilities, launcher/receiver traps, loop piping and end connections at the shipping company’s tank farm and the pipeline station.

Farnsworth Group provided project development, topographic surveying, engineering, drafting, construction document preparation, hydrotest design, material requisitions, material procurement coordination, construction engineering, construction management, construction staking, GIS, decommissioning / commissioning / recommissioning procedures, field purge assistance, and complete project documentation/closeout services for the project.