Transco, a wholly owned subsidiary of Williams Cos. Inc. (NYSE: WMB), filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for authorization for its Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline expansion project, Williams said March 31.

Atlantic Sunrise would transport about 1.7 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas from the Marcellus Shale to mid-Atlantic and Southeastern U.S. markets, the Tulsa, Okla.-based company added.

The pipeline is scheduled to go online in 2017’s second half, as part of a $4.8 billion project bringing transmission projects online through that year.

The Transco Leidy line in Pennsylvania, and various locations along its mainline between Pennsylvania and South Carolina, will be compressed and looped. The Central Penn Line, a greenfield pipeline segment, will connect the northeastern Marcellus region to the Transco mainline near Station 195 in southeastern Pennsylvania. Transco and a third party will jointly own this segment. The mainline of the 10,200-mile pipeline network runs about 1,800 miles between South Texas and New York.

Williams Partners’ net investment in the Atlantic Sunrise project is expected to be about $2.1 billion.

Transco is the country’s largest-volume and fastest-growing interstate natural gas pipeline system.