Oak Ridge neighbors frustrated as pipeline construction disrupts quiet streets

Heavy construction behind Oak Ridge homes has brought noise, traffic and drilling to a neighborhood that many residents say was never meant to absorb around-the-clock industrial work.

Todd Dean, a longtime Oak Ridge resident, said he first learned about the Transco expansion about a year and a half ago after Williams Companies sent a letter. Even so, neighbors say the reality of active construction has been far more disruptive than they expected, with equipment and crews now working day and night in a quiet residential area.

The project sits at the center of a much larger regional push for gas infrastructure. According to the Town of Oak Ridge, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the Southeast Supply Enhancement Project on January 29, 2026, and FERC staff later granted Transco’s request to begin construction on February 25, 2026. The town says the line is underground and crosses a floodplain, which has made the work especially sensitive in a community already worried about day-to-day disruption.

Williams describes the expansion as roughly 55 miles long and says it will add about 1.6 million dekatherms per day of transportation capacity. The company estimates the project at about $1.53 billion and says it should generate more than 3,000 direct and indirect jobs for North Carolinians. Williams also says the added capacity is equivalent to the gas needed to serve about 9.8 million homes, framing the project as a reliability upgrade for North Carolina and other southeastern states.

But for Oak Ridge residents, the immediate costs are more tangible: sleep interrupted by overnight work, trucks moving through local streets, and the worry that constant construction could dent home values. Neighbors raised safety, water, property-value and historic-preservation concerns at public meetings in 2025, well before drilling started. Williams says it had been communicating with residents since 2023, yet the neighborhood reaction suggests those efforts did little to ease the shock once construction arrived.

State and federal records show how deeply the project has moved through the regulatory system. Transco filed its pre-filing request with FERC on February 1, 2024, followed by a formal application on October 29, 2024. A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers public notice says the Salem Loop begins near Sandylea Road in Oak Ridge and runs about 31.2 miles southwest to Lexington, with about 28.5 miles within the Wilmington District. North Carolina Division of Air Quality records also show the project affecting compressor stations 150 and 155.

Environmental groups have challenged FERC’s approval in court, arguing the agency violated the National Environmental Policy Act. Project maps also show the Salem Loop crossing Beaver Creek floodplain areas, underscoring why the dispute has become about more than construction inconvenience. For Guilford County, the pipeline promises regional energy benefits, but it is Oak Ridge that is paying the daily price while the project moves forward.