New England natural gas and electricity provider Unitil announced this week that it has completed its upgrade project in Westbrook and downtown Portland.

The 14-year modernization project, entitled System Upgrade for Reliable Energy (SURE), is working to modernize the region’s gas infrastructure, making it more reliable and better able to meet the growing demand for natural gas in Maine.

According to a press release, more than seven miles of piping in downtown Portland and Westbrook – some more than 100 years old – were replaced with state-of-the art, high-density plastic pipe.

“By replacing older cast iron pipes with plastic, Unitil has assured that downtown Portland and Westbrook have natural gas infrastructure equipped to meet the growing gas needs of the local economy,” the release states.

Most of this summer’s work was visible on a large stretch of Main Street in Westbrook. According to the press release, Unitil has upgraded more than 11 miles of pipe in the region during the first three years of the project, and has installed more than 17 miles of plastic pipe in total.

Unitil’s project construction in the greater Portland area is expected to begin again in summer 2014.

“Thanks to the support of the cities of Portland and Westbrook, we were able to complete SURE project construction safely, efficiently and on schedule,” said Matt Doughty, the SURE project manager at Unitil. “We’re grateful to the residents and businesses in our local community for their cooperation and understanding during construction this year.”