Consumers Energy completes $610M, 90-mile Saginaw Trail Pipeline

Consumers Energy recently finished four years of work replacing a 1940s vintage natural gas pipeline with around 90 miles of new, larger lines collectively dubbed the Saginaw Trail Pipeline.

The $610 million project stretches through Michigan’s Saginaw, Genesee, and Oakland counties, providing a safer, more reliable expanse of infrastructure through mostly rural agricultural areas. To accompany the new line, rebuilds were also undertaken on the city gate facilities where gas pressure is regulated. Consumers reported that no service interruptions were needed during construction.

“We are pleased to share that the Saginaw Trail Pipeline has been successfully completed,” Dennis Dobbs, vice president of enterprise project management for Consumers Energy, said. “The project was a huge undertaking, and we are grateful for the cooperation and patience shown by affected landowners, community leaders, residents, and other entities throughout construction. We also recognize the outstanding efforts of the hundreds of company and contractor skilled trades employees who worked through the challenge of COVID-19 to bring this project to successful fruition.”

While modernizing Consumers’ natural gas infrastructure, the line also took great care on the environmental side of development. Consumers Energy worked with officials from the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge and the Kensington Metropark to determine environmentally sensitive construction approaches. Such approaches included non-plastic erosion control blankets; the relocation of more than 100,000 turtles, frogs, snakes; wetland restoration efforts; and wood waste recycling.

“The Saginaw Trail Pipeline helped model the way for environmental sustainability efforts for these types of large pipeline projects,” Dobbs said.

The pipeline is now running as normal, but some additional restoration work will be undertaken in 2021.