Over the next several weeks, BC Hydro will be replacing power poles throughout the city, meaning potential traffic delays and periodic power disruption.
The wooden power poles that line streets throughout the province weaken due to weather, insects, birds and wildlife.
Hydro is planning to replace 8,500 power poles province-wide this year as part of its regular maintenance.
Donna McGeachie, spokesperson for BC Hydro said Tuesday there are 73 poles in Surrey in need of replacement in various locations.
Residents can expect to see a large crane removing the old 45-foot wooden wooden poles and replacing them with new ones.
“There will be minimal traffic disruption, if any,” McGeachie said. “And we typically don’t require an outage (of power).”
When power will be interrupted, Hydro will notify owners of the affected homes and businesses.
“We try to give at least a week’s notice depending on the number of customers impacted or if there’s commercial customers,” McGeachie said.
Facts about BC Hydro’s power poles
· BC Hydro has approximately 900,000 distribution poles on its electricity system.
· This year, BC Hydro will replace 8,500 poles across the province that have reached their end of life.
· More than 20 per cent of BC Hydro’s wooden poles are older than 40 years and reaching the end of life.
· Wooden power poles are manufactured by two B.C.-based companies.
· BC Hydro’s electricity system includes 18,000 kilometres of transmission lines, 56,000 kilometres of distribution lines – almost enough to circle the globe twice – and more than 260 substations, serving almost 1.9 million customers.
