WORK is about to start on a cross-Severn gas link from Lydney to Sharpness. The last pipeline was destroyed in the tanker disaster of October 1960 which brought down the famed rail bridge.
The £1.2million project - first revealed in the Review a year ago - will involve the largest drilling operation of its kind undertaken in Britain.
This time the pipeline is to be laid beneath the Severn, the Gloucester to Sharpness Canal and the Gloucester to Cardiff railway.
The project is earmarked to be completed in a record-breaking six weeks.
Engineers say they plan to use a 250 tonne rig to launch a specialist directional drill into the ground on the banks of the Severn on the Lydney side and "steer" it to a depth of 50 metres below the river, railway and canal. It will cover distance of 1.6km.
The tunnel will then be enlarged to enable a 300mm diameter pipeline to be winched through.
To complete the project a further 12 weeks will be needed to lay 1 km of pipe on the Sharpness side and another 1 km across country to the outskirts of Lydney to connect into the existing gas supply network.
Transco's project manager Trevor Clark describes the scheme as 'much needed" to support a growing demand for gas in the Forest of Dean.
He said it was planned to be completed with the minimum of disturbance to landowners, residents and the countryside.
The company say they have carried out extensive environmental, geological and archaeological surveys.
Morrison Utility Services and Stockton Pipelines will carry out the work on Transco's behalf.