Many adults can recall the wonder of watching utility workers climb the narrow wooden power pole in front of their house — but wonder won’t do much to keep electricity flowing when heavy rains and winds batter an undersized, outdated utility pole.
“These poles are well-aged and definitely need to be replaced,” said Allen Moon, superintendent of contractor resource management with Dominion Energy as he stood in the midst of a replacement project on Bren Mar Drive, in the Springfield section of Fairfax County on Monday morning.
With some crew members digging a hole and others navigating a bucket truck, 13 older power poles were being replaced, hours before threatening weather was set to approach Monday afternoon.
“We’re replacing the new poles directly beside the old poles,” said Jason Green, with W.A. Chester, a subcontractor for Dominion. “The old poles are approximately 50 to 60 years old — they were the original construction in the early 1950s.”
Moon said the utility decided several years ago to upgrade the class of wooden poles: “To make all of our poles thicker, stronger, and more resilient.”
Green said the new poles are better suited to withstand inevitable summer storms, which include trees and heavy branches falling on wires, which often cause outages. “With the new reconditioned circuit, poles and cross-arms, it’ll help strengthen this section of the circuit and minimize outages in the future.”
Crews are able to do the replacement project while the lines are still energized by maintaining safety protocols.
Green said, “Everybody has power right now — everybody is in service.”
Moon said after the new poles are in place, Dominion will orchestrate planned temporary outages to allow other utilities to move their equipment and cables from the original pole to the new one, before the original poles are removed.
