A quarter-mile section of Katie Kerr Drive in Decatur will close for four days next week while Atlanta Gas Light crews install part of its Eastside Pipeline project that is replacing aging gas lines from Clayton County to North DeKalb.

The road will close between Asbury Heights Court and Asbury Drive in unincorporated DeKalb from Jan. 28 to Jan. 31. AGL said crews will set up detours around the work zone and take precautions to alert motorists by erecting signs.

Accommodations also will be made for pedestrians, including but not limited to flaggers stopping traffic and assisting them around the work zone or across the street.

An AGL statement sent to homeowners around the affected area said drivers should exercise caution.

“We appreciate residents’ patience as we work to complete these important system improvements,” it said.

The Eastside Pipeline project, part of AGL’s $250 million Pipeline Replacement Program, has been under way since early October. It will pass through the county traveling northeast while “crossing several roads and highways including I-285, Moreland Avenue, I-20, Glenwood Avenue, Candler Road and Memorial Drive.”

The project is part of the company’s Georgia STRIDE – strategic infrastructure development and enhancement program, a long-term system improvement plan authorized by the Georgia Public Service Commission.

The 24-inch pipeline will run 28 miles from AGL’s liquefied natural gas facility in Riverdale to connect with an existing transmission system near Buford Highway and Clairmont Road. About 18 miles of the pipeline will pass through unincorporated DeKalb, Atlanta-in-DeKalb, and the city of Decatur.

Statewide, AGL operates more than 55,000 miles of natural gas pipelines serving more than 1.5 million customers. Its Pipeline Replacement Program is a 15-year project that began in 1998 to replace more than 2,600 miles of bare, or unprotected, steel and cast-iron natural gas pipeline in the state.

AGL is replacing older pipe with state-of-the-art plastic and steel pipe to ensure the line’s long-term safety and reliability.

Some residents in subdivisions bordering Katie Kerr were worried that construction would tear up sidewalks and make it more difficult to get to the nearby Avondale MARTA station, but so far that hasn’t happened.

The back yard of William Casler’s house on Hillmont Street faces the construction corridor on Arcadia Avenue. Casler has lived in the area for more than 30 years and takes daily walks on Arcadia with his 3-year-old boxer-bulldog mix, Lizzie.

The 66-year-old retired dental technician said he understands the need for the pipeline upgrade but he’s shocked by what he sees. A block-long row of stately pecan trees that had lined Arcadia for decades is gone – a casualty of the project as crews clear the way for a 4-foot-wide, 6-foot-deep trench.

Casler said the area was a relaxing oasis.

“This block with its wide grassy area and heavy tree cover was like a mini-park where my neighbors and I used to meet and talk after morning walks. It was beautiful.”

Casler said he planted a large vegetable garden in the section behind his backyard fence last year. For now, all that’s left is churned earth, grass and fallen trees that workers will cut up and haul away.

AGL began notifying residents 18 months ago with notices and community meetings.

Company spokesman Duane Bourne said crews are working 9 to 5 Monday through Saturdays to minimize traffic problems.

“We expect any disruption to be minimal and crews will restore infrastructure to its original appearance” when the work is finished by the end of 2013, he said.

Bourne wasn’t sure whether any sidewalks will have to be closed.

Casler said he wants to reclaim the beauty he remembers once work is complete. “I’m thinking of planting new pecans. They’re beautiful and make great shade trees.”

For questions or concerns during construction, call 404-584-3130.