Installation of Enstar Natural Gas Company’s four-mile-long, 16-inch-diameter gas transport pipeline is complete. Crews are now working on cleaning up and restoring the construction areas along Bridge Access Road and Kalifornsky Beach Road.

Work is now focused on connecting the new pipeline to the Cook Inlet Natural Gas Storage Alaska facility, or CINGSA. The new pipeline’s other end has already been connected to Enstar’s B-line, one of the large transmission lines that move gas across its system. The expected end-date is still set for June.

“Upon completion, ENSTAR will gain significant increases in system efficiency while adding needed deliverability,” wrote Enstar Communications Specialist Kelsie Anderson in an email. “In addition, it will provide a second means to transport gas out of CINGSA providing welcomed redundancy.”

Currently, Enstar uses the Kenai-Nikiski pipeline owned by Hilcorp to transport gas between CINGSA and Enstar’s Cook Inlet facilities.

Additional piping is being installed at CINGSA, which is expected to finish by September, Anderson said. The pipeline lays roughly 65 feet away from the edge of Kalifornsky Beach Road, and is between 5-to-6 feet underground, Anderson said.

The majority of 5,000-foot section of pipe installed on Kalifornsky Beach Road was completed while the 2,000-foot section running beneath the Kenai River was being laid, Anderson said.

“All roads and driveways are brought back to original condition, including paving if required,” Anderson said “All other areas are seeded. Any equipment remaining on site is being demobilized.”

The project generally went as planned, Anderson said. In the beginning phases, warm weather provided mobility issues along Bridge Access Road.

“The biggest setback was the warmer weather. The original project plan was to construct an ice road for equipment to move and work on the wetlands,” Anderson said. “However, because the weather was so much warmer than normal, the ice road kept melting. Instead, our crews used (wooden) matting to protect the ground while creating a path through the wetlands.”

Crews were able to keep the project on track throughout, Anderson said.

The project required a total of 22 permits, as well as new easements, Anderson said.

Reach Kelly Sullivan at kelly.sullivan@peninsulaclarion.com.