Cedar Line Project Continues Through Winter Despite Weather Concerns

Supplying ATC's customers in Michigan's Upper Peninsula with the reliable electric service they expect often means updating and rebuilding lines in remote and rugged terrain despite inclement weather and heavy snow cover.

The Cedar Line is a 56-mile 138 kV line from Cedar Substation near Ishpeming to M-38 Substation near Baraga. It is one of two main transmission lines supplying UPPCo in the northwestern U.P. The line was built in 1954 as a 69 kV line and was upgraded to 138 kV in 1964. After the completion of the project, the line rating will almost double. The increased capacity will provide necessary relief for the ATC system and the region.

There are 505 structures long the Cedar Line. ATC engineering determined that 407 of the existing structures needed work -- 116 wooden "H-frame" structures needed replacement and 291 structures needed insulator change-outs to remove the old porcelain insulators that had experienced unacceptable failure rates.

The Cedar Line could not be removed from service during construction due to its importance to the region. ATC partnered with MJ Electric to complete the work using energized line techniques and UPPCo was hired to manage daily construction activities.

The first task was to open the roads to enable the large boom trucks and cranes to move into place. This was a full-time job for a crew of 4 people using trucks and bulldozers. Two setting crews then set the new wood poles ahead of another crew that placed the cross arms and transferred the conductors to the new structure and removed the old. Each crew could complete the work on two structures a day if the weather conditions were favorable. Construction was halted several times due to high wind conditions and wet snow.

ATC Project Manager Ken Jauquet explained, "With an in-service date of late June 2004, the construction activities continued no matter what Mother Nature could come up with. But we weathered the winter storms and met our target deadline."