Residents to See Little Benefit From Installation of New Gas Main in Greenacres

By now you probably know that Walworth Avenue is closed from Fenimore Road to Greenacres Avenue. Con Edison is in the midst of installing ten miles of gas pipes, some of it running directly through Scarsdale.

After they complete the first block, they will move north, with the next segment to be installed from Colvin Road to Brayton Road. While they do the work, the street is closed and it’s very challenging for those who live on the street to get their cars in an out of their driveways.

The project has caused a big disruption in local traffic as drivers who want to access the Village from Greenacres have to go to Brite Avenue or Brewster Roads. Brite Avenue was recently repaved at the same time Walworth was closed, causing lots of aggravation for anyone trying to navigate the ‘Dale.

We wondered if the new gas main would allow Con Edison to lift their moratorium on new gas service in Scarsdale and also asked how the presence of this line would benefit locals who put up with the road closures.

We questioned Allan Drury a spokesperson for Con Edison to comment and here is what we learned:

1) Who will be the end user of the gas that is passed through the line?

The project will replace 10 miles of existing 24”main and create a continuous transmission system between gas supplies in Westchester and the Bronx that will allow us to maintain service to customers in the event of the loss of either supply.

2) Where are the two endpoints?

Bronx and White Plains.

3) Who is paying for the extra police who monitor the site everyday?

Con Edison.

4) Have you considered doing the work at night so that drivers are not inconvenienced?

The area is largely residential. Doing the work at night would be inconvenient to residents.

5) Concerning our local moratorium on new gas hook-ups, when do you expect this to be lifted?

We have said that the moratorium could be lifted when a project on the Tennessee pipeline increases the capacity of that line.

6) Some of the businesses in the Village need gas lines to serve customers. Will you be providing service to commercial customers?

The moratorium covers new gas connections. A business that takes over a space that was formerly used by another business can use the existing gas connection.

7) How will Scarsdale customers benefit from this work - especially given the big inconvenience to residents?

See the answer to the first question. The project adds reliability and safety to our system.

A large mobile generator is parked on Church Lane.In other energy news, why is there a large mobile generator is parked on Church Lane? According to Drury, "We continue to work on the electric-delivery system to restore it to the condition it was in before Tropical Storm Ida hit the area. In the meantime, that generator provides redundancy and reliability for customers."

Additional information was supplied by Tyler Seifert from the Village: "There is a large portable Con Ed generator parked on Church Lane because there was a substation that feeds Scarsdale that was out. Con Ed needed to hook up the generator while the substation was down and they did the repairs. The generator is still there and connected but offline. They are waiting to make sure everything is running smoothly. The generator should be removed sometime this week."