Gas lines are being replaced, updated

The tripods and legs on a traditional survey crew are the same, but the survey crew above is using global positioning to measure and mark a new Counterpoint Energy gas line replacement in Linden, Texas.
The tripods and legs on a traditional survey crew are the same, but the survey crew above is using global positioning to measure and mark a new Counterpoint Energy gas line replacement in Linden, Texas.

LINDEN, Texas -- Being on a survey crew is a job that brings an amount of pleasure and self-esteem.

Three workmen with Stanger Survey Co. of Tyler, Texas, were working along Linden neighborhood roads recently surveying for CenterPoint Energy, which is replacing old, 2-inch metal underground natural gas lines with modern, 4-inch polyvinyl pipe.

Being on a survey crew can be a fun outdoor activity - walking through woods, fields, hills and valleys while carrying instruments and tripods to set up and measure distances and boundaries.

The task is usually not so complicated that the first-timer doesn't get to try and do it on one's own.

Stanger's job is to measure and mark the property lines for later, when a piping contractor will come through to install the new pipe. Charles Minter of Stanger Survey was leading a crew of three. The other two were Luke Lovett and David Arce.

The three had been up since early in the morning coming all the way from Tyler to be at the Linden site. Afterward, they'll drive back back to Tyler and then home.

"We drive a lot," Minter said.

What's fun is using the latest survey equipment, he said. It's done now by GPS (Global Positioning System) and the necessary receivers and satellite positioning.

"How accurate is the measuring? Within a foot or two?" Minter was asked.

"Within a hundredth of the inch," he said. "We use tri-angulation. That is you have two receivers, one at each end of the line to be measured, and then you go up to the satellite. From those points of measure you can determine spots and distances."

Minter said CenterPoint is working all over East Texas these days, replacing old pipe.

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