Snohomish County PUD says that it will take advantage of the summer weather to make electrical system improvements and complete preventative maintenance projects. The work helps to ensure the PUD maintains high levels of reliability as stormy weather arrives this fall and winter.

The PUD has work scheduled on many of its substations, including standard maintenance, equipment replacement and automation upgrades. Two new PUD substations will come online and construction will begin on two others to improve system reliability, provide increased capacity needs and add switching capability to the PUD’s transmission system.

This summer, the PUD will energize the new Cedar Valley Substation, located next to I-5 just south of Lynnwood, and the East Arlington Switching Station. The Cedar Valley Substation will accommodate expanded Link Light Rail service to Lynnwood and high-density commercial and residential development. The East Arlington Switching Station will provide improved system reliability and flexibility for maintaining equipment.

Construction starts in June on the new Swamp Creek Switching Station located near Lynnwood and will provide needed system capacity and reliability in this growing area. On the north Everett waterfront, construction of the new Port Gardner Substation begins this summer. The new substation will meet growing needs as the Port of Everett moves forward on commercial, recreational and residential development plans.

A PUD project this summer will underground all distribution facilities along a stretch of 236th Street Southwest in Mountlake Terrace, from the transit center to 56th Avenue West. The work will accommodate the city’s Main Street Reconstruction Project, which involves widening of the roadway and sidewalks along this corridor.

In addition, the PUD plans to replace aging poles, assess and treat poles and replace miles of aging underground cable. Numerous high-voltage poles, lines and related equipment will be reconfigured or relocated to accommodate development and construction projects like the City of Everett’s pedestrian bridge project along Marine View Drive and WSDOT’s wetland mitigation project along SR 529.

The PUD’s Vegetation Management team will have a dozen crews trimming trees across the utility’s service territory throughout the summer. The PUD trims trees on upwards of 550 circuit miles each year to aid in reliability.