O’Connell Electric was selected as the Prime Contractor to construct 14.5 miles of new overhead 115kV transmission line and provide other modifications to existing transmission lines from the City of Auburn, NY to the Town of Elbridge, NY. Known as the Auburn Transmission Project (ATP), the new line was designed to address system reliability issues in the City of Auburn and the surrounding area.
The project consisted of three phases:
- Relocating and reconductoring a portion of existing 115-kV Geneva-to-Elbridge #15 transmission line.
- Building two new 115-kV electric transmission lines over approximately 10.3 miles from the Town of Throop to the Town of Elbridge.
- Rebuilding of an existing 115-kV electric transmission line over 4.2 miles within the City of Auburn and the Town of Throop and the rebuilding of another existing 115-kV in the same right of way over 1.4 miles.
On average, the project had 80 linemen, 65 operators/laborers and 20 administrative/support personnel. We made a commitment to the customer to have the project complete within the condensed schedule, from ten months down to six months. To accomplish this, we leveraged many of our local resources to increase qualified crew counts and systematically move through the project to chase and tackle the critical path items through to completion.
The new 14.5-mile 115kV transmission line met its energization date. The project entered O’Connell Electric’s books as one the largest transmission line construction projects to-date.
