THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 17, 1995 TAG: 9502170526
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NAGS HEAD LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
About 100 new utility poles in Nags Head will provide improved electrical service for Hatteras Island residents by summer, power company officials said Thursday.
Since September, workers have been moving and replacing transmission lines along the U.S. Route 158 bypass between the Village at Nags Head subdivision and Oregon Inlet.
The $3 million project is scheduled to be completed by May 15. It is part of a larger construction effort aimed at upgrading the power supply for Hatteras Island's estimated 3,800 electricity customers.
North Carolina Power supplies electricity on the northern Outer Banks from Corolla to Oregon Inlet. Hatteras Island residents get their power from the Cape Hatteras Electric Membership Cooperative, a nonprofit organization that operates transmission lines from Oregon Inlet to Ocracoke Inlet.
Currently, Cape Hatteras Electric officials are involved in an almost $10 million transmission-line upgrade project.
The additional power supply should ``really reduce the number of outages and blinks'' for Hatteras Island customers, Cape Hatteras Electric Co-op Assistant Manager Claudine Williams said Thursday.
To accommodate the increased electricity supply for Hatteras Island, North Carolina Power officials had to upgrade their transmission lines between the Nags Head transformer station at Lakeside Drive and Oregon Inlet.
Previously, two overhead circuits carried power along the northern Outer Banks and one underground cable aided transmission. Workers combined the two overhead lines into one underground line - and added new poles.
``Before, we had about 150 wooden poles, each about 50 feet tall in that area,'' North Carolina Power Construction Director William ``Perk'' Hazlegrove said Thursday.
``Now, we're putting in about 100 new poles to accommodate the electricity upgrade. This project should significantly improve the power service to Hatteras Island.''
Poles that workers were installing Thursday are 80 feet tall and made of concrete. Those supports will be used from Lakeside Drive, south of the Village at Nags Head, to Whalebone Junction.
Between Whalebone Junction and the Oregon Inlet Fishing Center, Hazlegrove said, new poles will be wood and about 60 feet tall.
``We're paying for the improvements in our service area because that's our territory to cover,'' Hazlegrove said of North Carolina Power's $3 million investment.
``We considered putting this new 115-kv line for Hatteras underground, too. But it was just too expensive. Plus, underground cables are more frequently disturbed by construction and digging than overhead lines. In the Nags Head area, we can reroute power from another source if a line is cut.
``But for Hatteras Island, they only have one line bringing electricity in. They can't afford to have that cut at all.''
Between now and May 15, workers will have to reroute power supplies for Hatteras Island as they install the new poles and lines. Hazlegrove said the construction should not cause any problems with electrical service. But he urged customers to be patient until the upgrade is complete and the new lines are in place. ILLUSTRATION: Laying down the line
ROBIE RAY/Staff
Working on the new utility poles are Malcolm Thompson, left and
Raymond Lanier. The new poles will provide improved service for
Hatteras Island residents by this summer, according to the utility.
ROBIE RAY/Staff
A worker takes a closer look at the new, improved power line, part
of a $3 million project to be completed by May 15.
by CNB