Construction to begin on Wilton natural gas pipeline

A pipeline will be installed in Wilton over the coming months to bring natural gas to residents and major customers in the town, the state announced on Monday.

The 3.5-mile underground pipeline will be built along existing roads to connect natural gas to Wilton’s downtown business district, municipal buildings, the Comstock Community Center and the town’s public schools. Residents along the route will also be able to convert to natural gas. The project is a collaborative effort between the town and Yankee Gas under Connecticut’s Comprehensive Energy Strategy, which has a goal of “providing cleaner, cheaper and more reliable energy to Connecticut”™s residents,” Gov. Dannel Malloy said in a press release.

Malloy said the project will create construction jobs in the short term and put infrastructure in place to support long-term growth. The town expects to save about $500,000 annually in energy costs by converting to natural gas.

The Comprehensive Energy Strategy, published in February 2013, includes plans to make natural gas available to hundreds of thousands of residents and 75 percent of businesses in the state over the next seven years. Wilton is the first town to partner with Yankee Gas for an expansion project under the energy strategy, according to the state.