OREANDA-NEWS. A temporary bypass Colonial Pipeline has built to circumvent a leak on the main pipeline moving gasoline from the US Gulf coast through the southeast to New York Harbor has passed mandatory tests ahead of today's planned restart of Line 1.

Colonial yesterday completed hydrostatic testing of the segment's pressure capabilities and x-ray inspections of welds used to put the 500ft, 36-inch diameter bypass in place, according to an update filed by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Colonial plans today to begin moving gasoline through the bypass southwest of Birmingham, Alabama, slowly restoring full service to the 5,500-mile (8,851km) products pipeline network stretching from Houston, Texas, to Linden, New Jersey.

Line 1 and a parallel, distillates-bearing Line 2, connect Houston to Greensboro, North Carolina, and numerous stub lines supplying smaller terminals in between.

A Colonial spokesman could not be immediately reached for comment.

It will be a number of days before gasoline deliveries begin arriving at fuel distribution points through northern Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina cut off by the sudden loss of gasoline supplies on 9 September. Shipments diverted to Line 2 beginning 14 September took roughly four days to begin arriving. Shippers turned to waterborne deliveries and terminals used long-haul trucks to retrieve gasoline.