When Dominion Power and its electrical utility construction contractor, the L.E. Myers Co., needed to rebuild Dominion’s aging Mt. Storm-to-Doubs 500-kV transmission line—a critical component of the electric grid that serves West Virginia, Virginia, and Maryland—it called on ALL Crane & Equipment Rental, Nitro, W.Va., to supply the cranes.
Rebuilding the transmission line is being done in three phases and will be completed in early 2013. By then, ALL will have helped construct 458 new high-voltage transmission line towers carrying the 500kV line for 96 miles through the Allegheny Mountains, from the Mt. Storm Power station to the Doubs substation near Fredrick, Md.
ALL Crane & Equipment Rental has been on the job for approximately 12 weeks since phase one, providing two 165-ton Grove GMK5165 and one 170-ton Demag AC140 all-terrain cranes. So far, 281 towers have been set, and the third phase is underway. As of mid-October, there were 177 towers left to go.
ALL Crane & Equipment Rental's expert West Virginia crew has plenty of experience traveling the rugged region where the towers are being erected.
“Setting high line towers in the mountains is a huge challenge,” said Gary Dodd of ALL Crane’s West Virginia branch. “Getting the cranes and counterweights up the mountains involved a crew from the contractor cutting roads and paths and sometimes even pulling our equipment up and down with dozers. The uncertainty of the terrain and the weather up there, especially with winter coming, contributes to the difficulty.”
He added that with this expert crew, ALL is "moving Dominion’s project along right on schedule.”
Lift & Access is part of the Catalyst Communications Network publication family.
