New wires prevent power failures in Haverhill Bucket trucks are everywhere

HAVERHILL — It seems wherever you go in the city these days, there are workers in buckets fiddling with power lines near the tops of utility poles.

This week they were along Kenoza Avenue, on Boardman Street near Nettle Middle School, and elsewhere in the Riverside section of the city.

It can be a nuisance to wait as police officers direct cars around the sites, but power company officials said the hassle will be worth it. The work will bring more efficient power lines that will guard against frequent outages and allow for the replacement of cracked or leaning utility poles, they said.

For the most part, the workers are shifting high voltage power lines from old and, in many cases, cracked, leaning and doubled-up poles that residents and city officials have been complaining about for several years.

Yesterday, workers with Harlan Electric in Methuen were on Kenoza Avenue swapping power lines from an old and leaning utility pole to a new and upright pole. It was one of several utility poles they've been working on recently.

Verizon spokesman Stan Usovicz said that over the last two to three years his company has installed between 300 and 400 new and taller utility poles throughout Haverhill, at the request of National Grid, which he said is in the process of upgrading Haverhill's electrical system.

"The new poles are taller in order to provide National Grid with greater capacity power lines and to maintain a safer distance between other utilities on the poles, such as cable and telephone," Usovicz said.

City Councilor David Hall, chairman of the Public Safety Committee, said the upgrades are intended to reduce the chance of power failures in Haverhill during periods of high demand for electricity.

"National Grid knows there's a problem here and their priority is to improve electrical service in our area," Hall said.

In an effort to complete the project quickly, Hall said, National Grid contracted with Harlan Electric to move the power lines from old to new poles and upgrade them to handle higher voltages.

"Before they can take the old poles down, they have to work in unison with all parties, including the Fire Department," Hall said. "The most important issue now is to improve service ... and to help prevent power outages during times of heavy demand."

Passers-by may have seen many new utility poles laying on the ground near Plug Pond. Hall said the pile is gone now and those poles are standing tall across the city.

Broken and leaning utility poles were the talk of the town last year when residents and city officials complained about seeing them throughout Haverhill, including on Newton Road where one cracked pole leaned precariously, and on Mill Street where one pole sat on a wooden block instead of in the ground.

David Graves, a spokesman for National Grid, said electrical workers were in the Boardman Street area this week upgrading power lines from 4,000 to 13,000 volts, which should reduce the chance of power failures, particularly in the summer when many homes are running air conditioners.

"The work has resulted and will result in some short outages of two to three hours, in some cases, while customers are hooked up to the new power line," Graves said.

New poles are taller, allowing for more spacing between power, cable and phone lines

Photos

Workers from Harlan Electrical Construction install new power lines on utility poles along Kenoza Avenue yesterday afternoon in Haverhill. Staff photo