News, Culture and NPR for Central & Northern Michigan
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Enbridge can receive bids from contractors to build Great Lakes Tunnel

The Line 5 pumping station on the south side of the Mackinac Straits.
Lester Graham / Michigan Radio
The Line 5 pumping station on the south side of the Mackinac Straits.

Enbridge can soon receive bids from contractors to build the Great Lakes Tunnel.

That’s after the Mackinac Straits Corridor Authority met in Lansing on Wednesday.

The corridor authority is tasked with overseeing the construction of the Great Lakes Tunnel.

At a meeting Wednesday, it approved Enbridge’s Request for Proposals.

That document starts the bidding process to build the tunnel, which would encase the Line 5 pipeline beneath the Straits of Mackinac.

Jeremy Garza gave public comment on behalf of the Michigan Pipe Trades Association.

“This project will provide a stimulus to the economy in a rural area. We are highly trained individuals and are prepared to work on this project.”

Enbridge says the Request for Proposals will go out in the next few weeks.

Also approved at Wednesday’s meeting was a tribal consultation policy.

This requires the corridor authority to seek input from Michigan’s tribes, on all future decisions about the tunnel project.