After power outages this summer in La Grange, Western Springs and other nearby communities, ComEd is making infrastructure improvements to improve reliability.
A new 34,000 volt transmission line has been added underground on Wolf Road in Western Springs, between 55th and 45th streets. The work was completed over the last two weeks, municipal services director Matt Suppert said Tuesday.
The work in La Grange includes replacement of electrical cables under Cossitt Avenue from Gilbert Avenue to Tilden Avenue, and on Brainard Avenue from Hillgrove Avenue to Cossitt Avenue. It entails the replacement of electrical cables in the existing conduit, and installation of new cables and conduits through open cut trenching in the roadway and directional boring. It is expected to be completed by November.
“The conduit is no longer functional,” said Village President Tom Livingston. “The have to go into the street and put new conduits in.”
He said the village’s infrastructure is old and in need of upgrades.
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“The infrastructure in this region was designed in the 1950s and 1960s,” he said.
Though outages in August raised concerns, problems with power outages are not new to the village.
“I think it’s been more of a chronic situation,” Livingston said. “ComEd each year has tried to fix problems, but in recent years power reliability (problems) has crept in to become a greater part of our narrative.”
Livingston said he and other village officials recently met with ComEd representatives to discuss how to improve reliability in the village. He said the improvements on Cossitt and Brainard are the first among other mid- and longer-term plans to improve the system.
“The bigger picture includes updated substations,” he said. “And for good reason, the load has grown and they’re no longer sufficient.”
About 5,700 customers in La Grange, Western Springs and adjacent communities had power outages on Saturday, Aug. 13. The outage stemmed from another major outage that occurred Aug. 11 and was linked to a equipment failure at the McCook substation.
While Com Ed was able to restore power temporarily the night of Aug. 11, numerous problems with Com Ed equipment created a ripple effect for system reliability that resulted in the additional outage. As a result, generators were brought in to temporarily power a significant number of residents and the business district while a permanent repair plan was developed.
“It’s not good when you lose power in a business district on a Saturday night,” Livingston said.
The work recently completed in Western Springs will add to reliability, Suppert said.
“If the La Grange portion (of the line) goes down or is overburdened then they can switch over to this line,” Suppert said.
He said no other projects are planned in Western Springs.
“This was the main project to respond to the issues we’ve had over the past two months,” Suppert said.
The work in La Grange is being performed by Meade Electric on behalf of ComEd. ComEd has indicated that residents should not experience any outages while this work is being performed.
According to the village’s website, traffic delays are expected and motorists are encouraged to take alternate routes to avoid work on Cossitt and Brainard avenues. Roadways are expected to remain open to traffic, but traffic lanes may be reduced temporarily to allow traffic in only one direction to accommodate the work.
Once the work has been completed ComEd will restore all roadways, parkways, sidewalks and private landscaping, the website states.
Livingston said he feels confident that ComEd and the village have come up with a plan that will improve reliability.
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