Tag Archives: PSE

Power line upgrades coming to Gorst, Sunnyslope area

The in basket: On my intermittent trips between Port Orchard and Belfair, I’ve noticed that the underbrush has been removed from beneath the power lines on the west side of Highway 3 between Gorst and Sunnyslope Road. The clearing is about the width of a road, but with the power poles in the way, that didn’t seem like a probable explanation for the work. Trucks for Potelco, Puget Sound Energy’s repair contractor, are often in the area.

I asked PSE what’s up.

The out basket: Akiko Oda, spokeswoman for PSE replied, “We have several projects along State Route 3 slated for this year:

– A tree wire project along SR 3 beginning at Sunnyslope Road to the end of PSE’s line, just south of Lake Flora Road (about 4.3 miles). This project replaces the center conductor with tree wire.”

Tree wire is a specially coated, overhead wire that’s designed to prevent an electric short (and subsequent outage) when a tree limb falls into a power line, a PSE Web site says. “Where installed, it significantly reduces the frequency of tree-related outages, but cannot prevent all disruptions (e.g. if an entire tree falls into a power line),” it says.

”As a permitting requirement, we’ll be working 20 feet from the fog line and also conducting some night work, which will require closing a lane of traffic,” she said. The work began last month and is expected to take four months.

– “Overhead and underground construction work along SR 3 from North Birch Avenue W to Sunnyslope Road. We’ll be installing a second circuit and rebuilding the existing circuit using tree wire (about 1.3 miles).

– “Rebuilding the distribution line from SR 3 along Victory Drive, east along Old Clifton, stopping at Feigley Road (about 2.8 miles).

A PSE Web site has more information, under its “In Your Community” link

Seabeck Highway STILL bumpy from PSE work

The in basket: Greg Salo writes, “For those of us that travel Seabeck Highway westbound from the Bremerton end to Holly Road, this year has been a year of construction and anticipation of the completion of the underground power line project and the repaving of a stretch of the road.

“Initially the ‘patch job’ that Puget Sound Energy did on the westbound lanes was so poor and bumpy the county told PSE to redo the entire lane (which they did).  The second paving effort has been an improvement, and did remove many of the bumps and dips caused by the installation of the underground power lines.

“However, each of the PSE access covers on the surface of the westbound lanes has now ‘matured’ into more bumps and holes that we have to negotiate around and through, in an attempt to not damage our tires and suspensions.

“Will the County again tell PSE to fix the hazards they have created on the westbound road surface?  At the very least, there needs to be a typical road hazard sign placed at the approach to each access cover.  (BUMP AHEAD)  It would also be beneficial for each access cover to be painted with reflective white paint as a warning to drivers. Seabeck Highway is very dark during our rainy December nights.

“Could you see if the county is satisfied with the road that PSE has created for us?  And, who will be responsible to mitigate the current hazards at each of the access covers?”

I asked my stepdaughter Ronda Armstrong, who lives out that way, about it and she said she has taken to straddling the edge line at the covers to avoid the bumps.

The out basket: Yes, says  Doug Bear of Kitsap County Public Works, PSE’s contractor Potelco will be working on it, but “it been spending a lot of time lately handling the recent storms and the damage caused by them. That said, they are still on the hook to adjust the vaults to match the existing grade of the road. Their plan, as of last Friday, is to be out there this week working on these issues.”