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Uncased Steel Pipeline Crossing Standard – 2006 State of Alabama The Alabama Natural Gas Association (ANGA) consists of approximately 50 natural gas systems in the State of Alabama. They have been very pro-active in addressing concerns in the State of Alabama and nationally. One of these concerns was the installation of steel encasement for steel carrier mains installed under state highway crossings. Corrosion issues, maintenance issues, and installation issues continued to trouble the industry in Alabama. The association decided to join forces and work together to address this problem.
The next step in the project was to develop a standard for the Uncased Pipeline Crossing Standard that would meet the needs of all the ANGA membership and the State of Alabama Department of Transportation. This is where the project takes a completely new path. After several discussions with the leadership of the ANGA board, E1R recommended that each ALDOT Division office and District office be contacted and interviewed to provide input for this standard. This task would ultimately amount to 76 different individuals interviewed in 9 different Divisions over a 5 month period. This was approved and E1R was contracted to complete these interviews.
Needless to say, this was somewhat shocking to the majority of the ALDOT individuals being interviewed. The repeating comment during the 5 months of interviews was that this was the first time in recorded history that a utility company had asked for any input from the state before submitting a project or request. Not only were the ALDOT personnel willing to provide input, the proposal would be widely supported during the next 12 months of project development. The ALDOT community provided extremely valuable comments and recommendations for the standard. Each of these comments were reviewed for inclusion in the standard. As with any standard, all the comments could not be utilized. One example would be a certain district wanted a concrete covering at the ditch line to reduce the chance of a dig in situation. This was completely the opposite of another district office. Suggestions like this were addressed on an individual basis and follow up discussions with the ALDOT community were held as this standard progressed.
At this point, the leadership of ANGA continued to solicit input from the ALDOT community prior to submitting this standard for approval. The Director of Utilities for the State of Alabama was contacted and it was requested that a copy of the proposed standard be submitted to each individual interviewed with ALDOT for final comments. This was approved by the Director of Utilities. E1R was asked by ANGA to reconnect with each individual interviewed for this project and provide them with a copy of the proposed standard. Any additional comments would be addressed as they developed. Telephone and email contacts were utilized to reconnect with each of the interviewees. A personal on site visit was completed with the Utility Engineers in each of the 9 ALDOT Division offices. All comments were addressed and minor adjustments to the standard were completed. The ALDOT community continued to be amazed that a utility group would solicit input from the state and incorporate that input into the standard being submitted for approval.
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In December 2004, a discussion was held to address the concerns of the steel encasement issues. It was determined that this issue needed to be addressed and a standard installation should be developed for the State of Alabama. Dave Thomas of Eagle 1 Resources (E1R) met with the ANGA Board leadership to discuss this project and develop a path forward. It was determined that an initial discussion should be held with the Director of Utilities for the State of Alabama Highway Department (ALDOT) to investigate if this project would be feasible. This meeting was held and ALDOT was agreeable to allow this project to be developed and submitted to ALDOT for review and approval. 
Dave Thomas of E1R met individually with each Utility Engineer, District Engineer, Maintenance Engineer, and Division Engineer in the State of Alabama. These meetings were held at the office of the individual being interviewed. The goal was to make this process as easy as possible for the ALDOT personnel. Each meeting began the exact same way. Dave would walk into the office and lay a blank piece of paper on the desk of the person to be interviewed. Dave would explain that ANGA was in the process of developing a standard for the State of Alabama and they wanted to solicit input from each person that would ultimately touch these types of installations. Secondly, the association wanted to develop this standard after they had talked with the entire ALDOT community. Therefore, they were determined to start out with a blank piece of paper and solicit comments and concerns first, before developing a standard. 
With input from the ALDOT community complete and interviews with the leadership of ANGA on this standard, E1R developed an Uncased Pipeline Crossing Standard for the State of Alabama. This standard encompassed concerns from the mountain region of North Alabama to the seashore of South Alabama. The standard included several options in order to allow flexibility due to installation issues and address concerns based on the individual ALDOT offices. A final draft copy of the new standard was submitted to the ANGA board for approval in December of 2005. This was approved and ready for submission to the Director of Utilities with the State of Alabama.
The final Uncased Pipeline Crossing Standard for the State of Alabama was completed and submitted to ALDOT in March 2006. As of June 2006, this standard has been allowed to be used on a provisional basis for all uncased pipeline crossing in the State of Alabama. At this time, the State of Alabama is preparing to revise the existing Utility Accommodations Manual. ALDOT is considering including the ANGA Uncased Pipeline Crossing Standard in the revised 2008 Utility Accommodations Manual