An area gas company is boring a gas line under the Lehigh River as part of the multimillion-dollar Route 903 bridge replacement project.

Last week, the Carbon County Commissioners voted to ratify a right of way and grant of temporary construction easement agreement with the railroad commission and UGI Central Penn Gas Inc., effective June 29. The annual rental fee under the agreement is $500 plus a one-time fee of $200 for the temporary construction easement.Commissioners' Chairman Wayne Nothstein said the company is working to reroute its gas line from under the Route 903 bridge to approximately 14 feet under the Lehigh River. The line is currently secured under the decking of the current Route 903 bridge.Joe Swope, communications manager with UGI, said Tuesday that technology advancements over the past few decades have allowed UGI to use underground routes for its gas lines through directional drilling.He noted that the drilling staging area is on the east side of the river. The directional drilling will travel from the county parking lot, under the Lehigh River and Reading and Northern and Norfolk Southern rail lines to connect with the east side of Jim Thorpe. UGI will then place a casing pipe in the drilled area to create a conduit before placing a second pipe, which will connect the gas line.Swope said in total, UGI will be replacing about 700 feet of pipe.Crews from L&N Zimmerman Boring of Schaefferstown were on site this week, beginning to drill the width of the river approximately 100 feet away of the current bridge."It's pretty amazing that they can be on the side of the river and bore under the river on an angle and come up on the other side," Nothstein said.The timing of the project, Swope said, is dependent on what drillers find under the river."It all depends on the type of rock formation," he said, noting that some days drilling will go farther distances than others because of varying hardness of rock types.UGI hopes to complete the project by the end of the summer or early fall.In other matters, the commissioners voted to approve a right of way agreement granting PPL Electric Utilities Corp. the authority to cut down any and all trees within 25 feet of new electric lines along Flagstaff Road in Jim Thorpe.