WESTFIELD — Westfield Gas & Electric and its contractors begin to replace 22 miles of aging cast-iron pipe carrying natural gas in Westfield, a $17 million project that is estimated to take the next four years.
“It’s been on our capital plan for a long time,” said Greg Freeman, the utility’s operations superintendent. “It’ll provide safer, more efficient service to our customers.”
The utility kicked off construction Monday with a ceremonial groundbreaking on Apple Blossom Lane.
The pipes in the neighborhood of Apple Blossom Lane just off College Highway, or U.S. Route 202, date back to the 1960s, Freeman said. Some of the older pipes in the downtown date back to the beginnings of the city’s natural gas system and are 100 years old or older.
The cast-iron pipes are strong, but brittle, he said. And the constant freeze-thaw of the ground can work loose their joints.
The new pipes are made of a modern plastic.
And with the federal grant money, the Westfield Gas & Electric can consolidate a decade-long project of replacing them into just four years of work.
Work will take place here in this neighborhood along College Highway and also in Colony Circle, Birch Bluffs and then later on the west side of Southampton Road, near Westfield-Barnes Regional Airport.
The money for Westfield, part of the $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, was first announced by U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal back in 2023.
Freeman said the Trump administration had the funding on hold, but he’s now confident that its grant will still flow. Gas lines and gas-line safety is a bipartisan priority, he said, with more than $1 billion going out nationwide.
Joe Mitchell, the utility’s assistant general manager, said there was a brief holdup concerning federal requirements to use American-made materials. The flexible plastic is mostly manufactured overseas.
The city sends out monitoring trucks looking for leaks in winter, when the pipes are more likely to rupture.
“We can smell them before you can,” he said. And there haven’t been many.
R.H. White is the contractor.
