A 1,900-foot pipe hangs from cranes Wednesday before being pulled through a tunnel 100 feet under Nookachamps Creek along East College Way in Mount Vernon.

A 1,900-foot pipe hangs from cranes Wednesday before being pulled through a tunnel 100 feet under Nookachamps Creek along East College Way in Mount Vernon.

A 1,900-foot pipe hangs from cranes Wednesday before being pulled through a tunnel 100 feet under Nookachamps Creek along East College Way in Mount Vernon.

A 1,900-foot pipe hangs from cranes Wednesday before being pulled through a tunnel 100 feet under Nookachamps Creek along East College Way in Mount Vernon.

A 1,900-foot pipe hangs from cranes Wednesday before being pulled through a tunnel 100 feet under Nookachamps Creek along East College Way in Mount Vernon.

A 1,900-foot pipe hangs from cranes Wednesday before being pulled through a tunnel 100 feet under Nookachamps Creek along East College Way in Mount Vernon.

MOUNT VERNON — The Skagit Public Utility District took a major step Wednesday in replacing its primary water transmission line.

Using five cranes and a steerable drill, Scarsella Brothers workers began pulling 1,900 feet of pipe through a pre-drilled tunnel 100 feet under Nookachamps Creek along East College Way in Mount Vernon.

Project Manager Mike Benton said this 36-inch steel pipe is replacing a 24-inch concrete pipe. This new pipe is built to last 100 years, he said.

The pipe also contains 14 valves throughout, up from two in the current section of pipe, he said. This will help the district isolate leaks in the event of a failure and reroute water throughout the system, ensuring customers won’t lose access to water.

Because of regulations regarding wetlands and the animal habitats within them, the PUD chose to feed the pipe through a tunnel rather than lay it in an open trench.

“It would be almost impossible to excavate it,” Benton said of the project site.

Putting in this section of steel pipe will complete a crucial segment of the district’s Judy Reservoir water transmission line replacement project.

The 5.3-mile water line connecting the PUD’s primary water source to downtown Mount Vernon was installed in 1961, and has seen a number of breaks over the past three years.

Benton said replacing the entire line will cost about $40 million. The district received $34 million in low-interest loans from state and federal sources, which will reduce costs to ratepayers by about $265,000 annually in interest when compared to traditional bonds.

PUD spokesperson Kevin Tate said the district completed the first phase of its transmission line replacement in 2009. New pipe will meet up with that line at LaVenture Road.

The remaining stretches of pipe will be installed in segments over the rest of 2022.

In this latest phase, the PUD is collaborating with Skagit County Parks and Recreation to add to the Centennial Trail.

The about 30 miles of multi-use trail runs from Snohomish to the Skagit County line. In Skagit County, there is currently a half-mile section of the trail open for public use, with the trailhead located off Highway 9 south of Lake McMurray.

Tate said the district’s easements include permission to fill gaps in the trail where applicable.

The district will also install a pedestrian bridge over the East Fork of Nookachamps Creek, as it already needed to extend the pipeline over the creek.

— Reporter Brandon Stone: bstone@skagitpublishing.com, 360-416-2112, Twitter: @Brandon_SVH

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