Submitted by Orcas Power and Light Cooperative.

Orcas Power and Light Cooperative is relocating a line of transmission poles along Orcas Road as part of the county’s road re-alignment project.

The new poles will be strung with larger transmission wire which follows current standards and will increase efficiency and load carrying capacity.

OPALCO’s contractor crews will be in the area through mid-October. Most of the work is taking place hot (with the power on), but once the crew is ready to connect the new poles to the grid, there will be some limited power and fiber outages in the vicinity. Stay tuned for planned outage information in early October.

Contract crews are brought in for long-term projects like this one in order to maintain critical utility operations in parallel with major construction efforts.

The county road re-alignment project work will pick up again in the spring. The project will increase the safety for the high-traffic road and ferry route – and it corrects some legacy easements locations for the county and private landowners.

For information about the new road alignment and county project timeline, visit https://www.sanjuanco.com/278/Current-Projects.

For the latest information about OPALCO, go to www.opalco.com; sign up for the email newsletter at http://www.opalco.com/about/email-signup/; and follow OPALCO on Facebook at Orcas Power & Light Cooperative and Twitter @orcaspower.