PSEG Long Island has begun federally funded work this month to improve system reliability in areas of Riverhead town.
Crews are replacing existing wire with more weather-resistant wire, installing new and more durable poles in some locations, and installing or replacing switching equipment to help reduce the number of customers affected by an outage, the utility said in a press release.
Crews will also trim trees “where necessary,” following the American National Standards Institute standards and its “Best Management Practices Tree Pruning” publication, which calls for trimming 8 feet to each side, 12 feet above and 10 feet below the conductor.
The work, which is expected to take about six months to complete, will generally take place Monday through Saturday between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. There will be a limited amount of evening and Sunday work and work will be done on major national holidays.
PSEG has designated two project routes within the Town of Riverhead.
Route one:
Sound Avenue between Edwards Avenue and Cross River Drive (Rt. 105)
Edwards Avenue south of Route 25
Riley Avenue between Edwards Avenue and Twomey Avenue
Twomey Avenue between Sound Avenue and Route 25
Osborn Avenue south of Sound Avenue
Mill Road north of Middle Road
Roanoke Avenue between Sound Avenue and Middle Road
Route two:
Route 25 (Main Road) between Howell Avenue and Washington Avenue
Tuthills Lane between Route 25 and South Apollo Drive
The utility expects “some localized, intentional, short-duration power outages” related to this project. All affected customers will be notified in advance of any power outage, PSEG said in the press release.
There will also be “minor traffic interruptions related to this work,” PSEG said. PSEG Long Island contractors will provide cones, flagmen and signage at the work site, as needed, to minimize interruptions.
The utility said it is working closely with local officials, keeping them informed and working to minimize potential disruptions.
New poles erected during this project will be approximately the same height as existing poles but will have a stronger base, PSEG said. They will be placed about two to three feet from current pole locations. PSEG said it will coordinate the removal of old poles with other utilities and municipalities.
The work is part of an island-wide electric circuit improvement project funded with more than $729 million through the FEMA Hazard Mitigation Assistance Program, a program established after Superstorm Sandy to harden electrical distribution infrastructure against future storm damage and help restore power more quickly.
The historic storm, which tore into NY metro region on Oct. 29, 2012 had severe impacts on the utility’s transmission and distribution system, resulting in power outages to all of the service territory’s 1.1 million customers. (See “Sandy — Happening Now” live blog coverage Oct. 28 – Nov. 7, 2012.) The entire service territory was declared a federal major disaster area. See “Riverhead assesses damages in the aftermath of historic storm” (Oct. 30, 2012) for a recap of initial impacts locally.
Power was lost as a result of damaged switching and substations, damaged poles and electrical equipment, and downed trees that brought down wires, according to PSEG-LI, which took over management and operation of the system
PSEG-LI announced the project in March for parts of the towns of Brookhaven, Huntington, Islip, Oyster Bay, Riverhead and Southold; work got underway in some areas in April.
“We are committed to making our transmission and distribution system more resilient, able to better withstand extreme weather events,” PSEG-LI president and CEO David Daly said when he announced the work in March.
“Superstorm Sandy has had a lasting impact on our customers, and the recovery and healing is still ongoing. The funding provided to the Long Island Power Authority by FEMA allows us to implement significant grid reinforcements that will make the system more resilient to future storms,” Daly said.
The utility also plans to upgrade or replace more than 1,000 miles of mainline circuit facilities, elevate and protect flood-prone substations and install automation that isolates faults, all of which will allow PSEG to limit the number of customers impacted by an outage and significantly speed up their restoration of power in the event of an outage, according to PSEG vice president of transmission and distribution operations.
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