Project update: The next phase of stringing is scheduled to take place beginning March 9 through early April between Wilson Substation to Thunderbird Road. The work will impact business parking lots and area roads at times as crews are moving equipment and materials. Intermittent traffic stops may be needed as wire is strung over roads.
The top shield wire on structures is being replaced.
As part of the construction, crews are placing a new steel structure along the transmission line at Columbus Road.
Xcel Energy is dedicated to providing our customers with the safe, reliable, affordable electricity they need to power their lives. That’s precisely why we are replacing a shield wire on a transmission line in Bloomington. As a result of this work there will be some road and parking lot impacts under the lines.
Crews began work in October and should be completed by April 2020. The shield wire is the top wire on the transmission structures and is designed to prevent lightning strikes from damaging the wires on a structure that transmit electricity.
The existing shield wire is being replaced with a new Optical Ground Wire (OPGW) which will make for a smarter system by facilitating communications between substations. The OPGW will also assist in preventing lightning strikes. The wire is being replaced on several structures types in the project area including steel lattice, single pole and h-frame poles.
The work is taking place north and south of 494 between Bush Lake Road to Portland Avenue and south on Portland Avenue/Columbus Avenue to the Black Dog Generating Plant (view map). The project laydown yard, where materials and equipment is stored, is located at East 84th Street and Columbus Avenue South.
Crews are using buckets trucks to install pulleys to the top arm of the structures, remove the existing wire and pull-in the new OPGW.
We appreciate your patience during construction.
Brian Sullivan
Siting and Land Rights Agent
612-330-5925
