Central Maine Power is in the process of replacing more than 70 utility poles along State Route 123, also known as Harpswell Neck Road, to make service more reliable.
“The purpose of replacing these poles is proactive grid strengthening,” CMP spokesperson Dustin Wlodkowski said in an email. “This is part of the maintenance we’re doing every day across the state to make sure we’re delivering safe, reliable power to our customers. The poles going in are new and stronger.”
The replacement work began several weeks ago, Wlodkowski said, with a few more weeks left to go as of early May. CMP hopes to have the work largely completed before summer traffic picks up, he said.
Poles are being replaced from the Harpswell border to Ash Point Road. The new poles are designed to improve service reliability along the main line that feeds nearly all of West Harpswell, Wlodkowski said. No additional pole replacement work is planned for Harpswell at the moment, he said, but that could change.
“We’re always performing proactive maintenance and pole inspections,” Wlodkowski said. “We know that if we have extreme weather or storms, that’s potentially more moisture, tree damage and wind bearing down on our grid. We want to stay ahead of that.”
