New Gas Lines To Be Installed At Nissan In Decherd

The job of running natural gas lines to the newly expanded Nissan powertrain facility in Decherd will soon get underway now that the Elk River Public Utilities has awarded a contract for the installation project. The agency’s board voted to award the contract to Winchester-based LTS Construction. ERPUD Manager of Operations Eddie Moffitt said four companies submitted bids for the project, with LTS coming in as the low bidder at $74,890, which he added was very close to the engineer’s estimate. Moffitt said, the installation of service lines to the new 310,000-square-foot facility was expected to cost in the neighborhood of $82,000 to $84,000. However, after those estimates were determined, Nissan changed its design plans, necessitating a longer service line. The company also recently completed a similar line installation job, which connected the Tyson Foods hatchery in Pelham to the utility’s natural gas service. Nissan announced the expansion earlier this year, and once the new facility is up and running, the powertrain plant is expected to boost the workforce there by 400, bringing the total number of jobs up to approximately 1,500.