Austin Energy replacing wood poles with steel ones on South Lamar
AUSTIN, Texas - Austin Energy is working on phase 2 of the South Lamar Reconductoring Project. They're replacing wood poles with steel poles and upgrading electrical wires.
"This is an upgrade of existing electric system capacity to improve reliability and resiliency of the electric grid," John Powell, managing engineer for distribution engineering at Austin Energy said.
Crews dig holes roughly ten feet into the ground.
"It's really hard. It could take a while. Chipping away at it, some of these holes have to be hand dug," Craig Brooks, director or support services at Austin Energy said.
A truck slowly pulls the pole upright, and crews push it into the hole.
According to the City, crews started back in July. Phase 1 was from Kinney Ave. to W. Mary/Heather St. intersection. Phase 2, which is what they're in now, is from W. Mary/Heather St. to Treadwell St.
The third phase, estimated to start in March 2025, will be from Treadwell Street to Barton Springs Road.
About 60 poles will be replaced, serving about 8,000 Austin Energy customers, especially as the region grows.
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"This will improve the resiliency of that backbone system so that when those adverse weather events occur... we can focus less on the backbone of the system and more on the segments that run into the neighborhoods," Powell said.
The steel poles don't need the angled wire from the top of the pole to the ground like the wood ones. It also paves the way for more infrastructure the city is working on, so Austin Energy only has to "dig once."
"The new sidewalks, bicycle paths and vehicle lanes and their future configuration will be compatible with the electric system we're building today," Powell said.
"Residents, they see a lot of construction, and it looks like it's impeding traffic. It is a small moment in time compared to the long-term impacts. We want really want to thank the customers for allowing us to use their driveways to set up trucks," Brooks said.
No power outages are expected while work is being done. If there need to be outages later on, Austin Energy will tell you in advance.
Once Austin Energy's work is done, the city will continue other infrastructure work in early 2025 from US 290 to Bluebonnet Lane and continue work in mid-2026 from Bluebonnet Lane to Barton Springs Road.