Con Ed Underground Electric Pilot Project Begins in Yorktown
Con Edison was scheduled to begin moving overhead electric wires underground on two Yorktown streets Monday as part of a regional pilot program.
Con Edison’s Underground Storm Resiliency Pilot program is the utility’s first effort in Westchester County and it focuses on 41 customers along Foothill Street and Lockwood Road, an area dense with trees. As storms become more frequent and severe, underground electrical wires will help communities keep the lights on and bounce back to normal more quickly.
The burial of the electric lines in the pilot area will also benefit residents in the larger surrounding area on Emma Lane and Casey Court because their power supply will become less vulnerable to falling trees.
“Our residents have experienced extraordinary power outages over the years, so I’m pleased that Con Edison has chosen Yorktown for its first resilience pilot in Westchester County,” said Yorktown Supervisor Matt Slater. “Con Edison’s pilot is a welcomed solution that will protect our residents from increasingly severe weather events.”
Con Edison engineer Carlos Morillo to the Town Board last week that the area has experienced 14 outages since 2009 and seven of them were due to fallen trees. Storms Riley/Quinn and Isaias collectively caused 244 hours of power loss for customers in the area.
The pilot program will bury about 2,200 feet of electric wires and install concrete-pad-mounted transformers in metal boxes that will sit by the side of the road. Each of the transformers will serve three to four customers.
Work to dig the trenches for the underground electric lines will begin on Monday and will continue through February. Landscaping for the disturbed areas is scheduled for March and Con Edison will repave the disturbed streets.
Con Edison began sending notices to affected residents last Wednesday. Some of the work will pass through wetlands and the Town Board has scheduled an October 5 public hearing for a wetlands permit.
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