Colonial Pipeline says it expects to restart its Line 1 on Wednesday, 12 days after a leak was discovered that spilled an estimated 336,000 gallons of gasoline in Shelby County.

Line 1 has been shut down since the leak was discovered on Sept. 9, causing fuel shortages and gas price increases throughout the Southeast, particularly in Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas.

The line normally carries 1.3 million barrels of refined gasoline per day from refineries in Houston to distribution centers throughout the Southeast and Eastern Seaboard.

Colonial says it has completed construction of a bypass pipeline to take fuel around the damaged section of pipeline and to points down the road. That new bypass line will be tested and connected to the main line, and is projected to restart Wednesday.

"Construction, fabrication and positioning of the bypass segment around the leak site is complete," read an update on Colonial's response web site. "Colonial is in the process of executing a hydrostatic test of the segment, which is approximately 500 feet in length, to ensure its structural integrity."

Colonial said the relief to customers at the pump may not be immediate, however.

"When Line 1 restarts, it will take several days for the fuel delivery supply chain to return to normal. As such, some markets served by Colonial Pipeline may experience, or continue to experience, intermittent service interruptions. Colonial continues to move as much gasoline, diesel and jet fuel as possible and will continue to do so until markets return to normal."

(Colonial Pipeline)

Colonial spokesman Don Pozin said the bypass line will allow the pipeline to operate at its full capacity. Authorities from the Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration will have to give their approval before the line is restarted through the bypass.

The company had planned to dig out and repair the damaged line first, but were limited in their ability to do so by unsafe concentrations of benzene and gasoline vapors over the site of the leak. Saturday, Colonial announced they would construct the bypass line instead.

Colonial continues to recover gasoline from the leak site and a mining retention pond that collected large amounts of the gasoline from the spill.

Hazardous vapor concentrations have been an issue at the work site, but U.S. Environmental Protection Agency personnel on scene say that the fumes do not pose a danger to nearby residents and that there are no indications the gasoline has reached Peel Creek, a tributary of the Cahaba River, or the Cahaba itself.