Construction of a natural gas pipeline expansion that will pass through six South Hampton Roads localities has begun but is on hold for the winter.

Columbia Gas Transmission LLC, a subsidiary of Canada-based TC Energy unaffiliated with Columbia Gas of Virginia, received approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in 2023 for what the company has termed its “Virginia Reliability Project.” The work entails replacing an existing 1950s-era 12-inch-wide pipeline that passes through Sussex, Surry, Southampton and Isle of Wight counties and the cities of Suffolk and Chesapeake with a 24-inch one to provide reliability amid growing demand for energy.

A large swath of trees has been cleared across a section of Broadwater Road, roughly a mile inland from the Blackwater River on Isle of Wight County’s side of the Southampton County border.

A similar clearing is located two miles north of Windsor Elementary along Courthouse Highway.

TC Energy confirmed to The Smithfield Times on Jan. 9 that both Isle of Wight sites, which are located along the project’s expected path, are tied to the VRP. TC Energy expects to complete construction and bring the pipeline into service by Nov. 1.

TC Energy, in a statement to the Times, said construction began in July following FERC’s issuance of a notice allowing the company to proceed with construction. By Oct. 31, the company had completed 23 miles of pipe construction and associated components. Construction at the 2025 locations of work will resume in the spring.

Various supporting activities, including site maintenance, surveying and environmental work, will continue during the winter as needed, TC Energy said.

“We have traffic management plans in place to minimize any impact to local roads and communities and maximize safety during construction,” said TC Energy spokesman Michael Tadeo.

According to a TC Energy fact sheet, localities can expect to see a proportionate share of a cumulative one-time increase of $7.7 million in local tax revenue. It’s expected to also generate a one-time increase of $8.6 million in state tax revenue.

Isle of Wight County Commissioner of the Revenue Gerald Gwaltney said he didn’t have an estimate yet as to how much of the $7.7 million Isle of Wight would receive.

“When the pipeline is completed, it will be assessed by the Department of Taxation and will be given the assessment for the pipeline in Isle of Wight County to tax. That will not occur until next year,” Gwaltney said.

The expanded pipeline would connect to existing segments in Prince George and Greensville counties, and to the company’s Petersburg and Emporia compressor stations.

It would deliver an additional 100,000 dekatherms per day, a measure of the heating value of 1,000 standard cubic feet of natural gas.

Isle of Wight County supervisors voted in 2023 to accept TC Energy’s offer of $101,822.50 for the acquisition of easements that will allow the pipeline to cross the county-owned Blackwater Park, which consists of just over 2,500 acres of forestland nearly 10 miles south of Smithfield along the Blackwater River. The park is open by one-day or annual permits to residents and non-residents for a variety of outdoor activities, including hunting.

The Virginia Reliability Project will take a different path through Hampton Roads than the controversial Atlantic Coast Pipeline Dominion Energy and North Carolina-based Duke Energy proposed in 2014 and scrapped in 2020. The Virginia Reliability Project will pass near the towns of Dendron in Surry County, Ivor in Southampton County, and continue past the Blackwater Property between Windsor and the county’s courthouse. The ACP would have passed near the towns of Boykin and Newsoms in Southampton County, bypassed Isle of Wight and passed near Suffolk’s Holland community.