UI's Replacement Of Transmission Towers Enters Derby

Image from UI shared on Facebook Jan. 27 by the City of Derby.

ANSONIA-DERBY – United Illuminating’s $50 to $60 million project to replace 100-year-old towers has literally crossed the Housatonic River into Derby.

The utility company is replacing 34 lattice-style towers that carry 115 kilowatt high power transmission lines. The lattice-style towers are being replaced with steel monopoles. 

The project has been in the works since about 2012, and was approved by the Connecticut Siting Council in 2022, with endorsements from local Valley elected leaders.

United Illuminating is replacing its towers in a 4.1 stretch from roughly Shelton High School to a substation off Riverside Drive in Ansonia.

That means the path crosses the Housatonic River onto Roosevelt Drive (where a monopole was recently installed next to the Yale Boat House), and then across Park Avenue, Hawthorne Avenue and Coon Hollow Road before criss-crossing into Ansonia. 

It’s being done to modernize the grid and to make it more efficient, officials said. The project should be completed sometime between July and September.

The project is entering densely populated residential neighborhoods in Ansonia and Derby.

The utility company sent a letter which was shared by the City of Derby on social media on Jan. 27.

These simulated images show the before and after looking from Shelton across the Housatonic River at Roosevelt Drive near North Avenue in Derby.

Crews have been in Derby for weeks preparing to take down the lattice-towers in order to replace them with the monopoles. The letter says crews will be pouring new concrete bases for the monopoles starting on B Street in west Derby, and then to Hawthorne Avenue’s intersection with Coon Hollow Road.

Motorists and residents should expect to see traffic diverted at various times as towers are removed and replaced with monopoles. The work will involve heavy-duty cranes.

These are not traditional utility poles being replaced. Some of the towers being replaced stand at 120 feet tall.

Click this link to read more about the project.

UI also provided a phone number to call if people have questions: 888 848 3697.

The company also provided and email: Outreach@uinet.com.

A map laying out the path of construction.

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