County High Tension Power Line Work

In case you haven't noticed over the last few weeks, Ameren has been working with equipment and helicopters along the County high tension power lines. This work has involved lowering linemen onto the high poles via helicopter, which, though a bit noisy, was actually pretty cool if you got to see them at work.

One of our trustees recently spoke with the Ameren project manager regarding this project. Work in our area should be completed around Wednesday, Dec. 6, when they will move to a new site. Crews are replacing the upper lines in a one-for-one change out. No additional lines are being added to the towers. They are trying a new concept, using the helicopter to lower workers down to the towers to remove and install the wires. This process is actually quicker and causes less impact on the surrounding community than bringing in additional heavy equipment. They have also worked to minimize the helicopter noise by limiting the low hover and ground run time, as well as work hours.

Several residents have had questions about the work, so we hope this clears up some of the mystery, plus we now have an end date to the local project. We appreciate the dangerous job of these hard working Ameren employees helping to keep our power on.