PACIFIC NORTHWEST EDITION
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February 16 2020 Vol. II • No. 4
“The Nation’s Best Read Construction Newspaper… Founded in 1957.” Your Pacific Northwest Connection – Patrick Kiel – 1-877-7CEGLTD – pkiel@cegltd.com
Rebuilding Oregon’s Pacific Crest Trail on Tough Terrain By Lori Tobias CEG CORRESPONDENT
It’s no easy task rebuilding nearly 23 mi. of transmission line in the challenging terrain of Oregon’s Pacific Crest Trail. Just to access the $45.7 million project, linemen must endure an hour-long hike or be flown in by helicopter. And yet for some linemen, the Bonneville Power Administration’s Bonneville-Hood River Transmission Line Rebuild is a dream job. “Working on this line rebuild is a challenge that attracts a certain kind of lineman,” wrote IBEW president Lonnie Stephenson in an IBEW blog post. “Linemen are up in the mountains, surrounded by waterfalls, doing what they love every day. There’s a lot of history behind this job, but there are also facets that make it interesting ... Even to get equipment like excavators, they must be flown in by helicopter. For that reason, these linemen are some of the best in their trade in the world.” According to the BPA website, “This project involves rebuilding portions of BPA’s existing Bonneville-Hood River 115-kilovolt Transmission Line between the Bonneville Powerhouse at Bonneville Dam in Multnomah County and BPA’s existing Hood River Substation in Hood River County.” BPA will rebuild structures and replace conductor and/or hardware along about 22 mi. of this existing 23-mi.-long transmission line and the existing approximately 400-ft.long Cascade Locks Tap. BPA also will improve the existing access road and foot trail system that allows BPA to get to and from
The project involves rebuilding portions of BPA’s existing Bonneville-Hood River 115-kilovolt Transmission Line between the Bonneville Powerhouse at Bonneville Dam in Multnomah County, Ore. and BPA’s existing Hood River Substation in Hood River County, Ore.
the Bonneville-Hood River transmission line. The line has approximately 68 lattice steel pole structures that will be retired along with the associated guying and hardware, according to the website. New engineered steel pole and wood pole structures will be installed and approximately 17 mi. of line will be reconductored.” BPA spokesman Kevin Wingert said, “The challenges are many.”
In addition to the rugged terrain, crews with Wilson Construction must work around wild fires, endangered wildlife habitat, including pika, bald eagle and raptors, and in areas — the Columbia River Gorge and Pacific Crest Trail — favored for recreational use. In addition, the transmission line is more than 80 years old. Built during the end of the Depression from 1939 to 1941, the original project
was proof that transmission lines could be built anywhere. In the excerpt “Where Mules Couldn’t Go,” from “BPA and the Struggle for Power at Cost,” author Gene Tollefson quotes Gene White, head of survey operations, “Special towers were designed with no single piece weighing more than 70 pounds. They were carried in by mules wherever possible, and by men
where mules couldn’t go. We had places where you couldn’t get a mule carrying several of the 70 pound pieces, … and 70 pounds was the limit a man could carry or that you could handle by getting a long hand-line across and pulling it across.” Today, the project is the first transmission line at BPA fully utilizing “Human External Cargo see BPA page 4