Line Life Podcast: Modernizing Century-Old Infrastructure in Pennsylvania
About a century ago, lineworkers erected steel lattice towers in Pennsylvania without the heavy equipment and modern tools that line crews have today. In our January 2023 Line Life podcast episode, two project team members from Duquesne Light Company (DLC) describe the process of modernizing this infrastructure with the latest technology and work methods.
The BI-Crescent project began in 2021 and is planned to be wrapped up by 2027. In the early stages of the project, Jason Hartle, former senior project manager; and Meenah Shyu, general manager of engineering, talked about Phase 1, which was completed last summer.
Today, the project has moved on to the second phase, which plans to be completed by May 2023, according to Bob Teachout, the new project manager. Line crews are currently replacing 20 structures and about four miles of transmission wire circuit length.
To learn about the process of replacing century-old lattice towers with weathered steel monopoles, listen to the episode below. You can also read the full feature story, Lineworkers Rebuild Century Old Infrastructure, to learn more about the project.
If you have a comment about this episode or a suggestion for a future podcast guest, email Field Editor Amy Fischbach.
