Near Frank Kinney Park, workers for a utility contractor are filling a hole they just dug in the road. This helps them measure the depth of existing utilities before they move overhead power lines underground.
This is part of the Headwaters Trail Electric Reliability Project, an EWEB infrastructure plan that will replace wooden power poles in the area with metal structures and move some power lines underground in South Eugene. The goal is to make them more resilient to natural disasters.
In 2024, tens of thousands of people in Lane County were left without power during an ice storm where the ice toppled trees near power lines, leaving many without heat in freezing temperatures.
Tyler Nice, the Electric Division Manager at EWEB, explains that one part of the project is replacing wooden poles with metal ones, making them more resilient towards nature.
“The poles we're putting in, there's a few things about them that are very preferable. One, they're stronger, so they can handle more loading, ice, wind, snow, all that,” said Nice. “They also won't burn. So either, if a connection on the pole happens, the metal will not catch on fire.”
The other part of the project includes moving some of the power lines underground. Distribution lines, the power lines that can be insulated and moved, will be sent underground. Nice adds that this will make them less susceptible to natural disasters.
“We put them underground, the impact of ice and snow and wind doesn't take into account anymore,” said Nice. “So they are perfectly happy being underground with anything going on up above the ground. It's like their happy home down there.”
EWEB also is taking preventative measures around the newer metal poles by removing surrounding dead trees or “topping” them off by removing some branches so that they are not leaning towards the poles and lines.
“We top those because now if they were to fall, they're dead, they're not going to hit the line,” said Jeannine Parisi, the Resilience Program Manager at EWEB. “So sometimes, tree removal is an option, sometimes we just top them as a hazard tree, just to protect the lines.”
