West Main St. From Grand View to Park Ave in Port Jervis to Close April 27; Month-Long Closure for New O&R Substation Construction
The next phase of construction for Orange & Rockland’s (O&R) new $38.2-million electric substation project calls for closing West Main St. to traffic between Grand View Ave. and Park Ave. for approximately one month beginning Monday, April 27.
Both Grand View Ave. and Park Ave. will remain open to traffic. Motorists are encouraged to avoid the area by using River Road and Pike Street as alternate routes.
The temporary street closing reflects the progress O&R has made since it began working on this project in December. The existing substation infrastructure has been removed and construction has begun on the new substation. That new work includes installing the underground electrical conduits beneath West Main St.
All O&R company and contract personnel working on this project have been instructed to follow the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines during the health emergency, including wearing protective masks and practicing social distancing with each other and members of the public, in an attempt to keep everyone safe from the coronavirus.
The traffic restriction is required in order to complete this work safely. Traffic controls and detours for this project have been established in accordance with New York State Department of Transportation (DOT) regulations and have been approved by the city. This project is considered essential construction under Gov. Cuomo’s Executive Order 202.6 from March 22, 2020.
The new larger, modern substation is designed to improve electric service reliability for O&R’s approximately 7,700 customers in the area. The new substation will offer more switching options to help restore service interruptions more quickly and it will allow O&R to better integrate renewable energy and advanced technologies onto the power grid.
Under current rates, O&R estimates the new Port Jervis substation will result in approximately $1.9 million in increased tax revenues to the city and its schools each year. This project’s in-service date is June 2021.
Here’s an estimated time frame for major steps in the project:
- Site preparation, grading and foundation work -- May 2020 through September 2020
- Transformers and Control Building installation -- December 2020
- Construction of electric portions of the new substation -- January 2021 through June 2021
- Energize new substation -- June 30, 2021
- Site landscaping -- July through Dec 2021 Site restoration and final landscaping -- January 2022
Here are potential impacts to the community:
- Rock removal by mechanical means --- March through September 2020
- Increased construction vehicle traffic to the area – 2020 through 2021
The contractor crews will be performing the work generally between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. Traffic control flaggers, cones and signs will be fully deployed for workplace safety as necessary.
If you have any questions about this project, please call Orange & Rockland Customer Service at 1-877-434-4100.
O&R has made investments totaling over $145 million this year to fortify and improve the reliability of its electric system. That investment builds on the nearly $1 billion O&R has invested over the past 10 years on electric system maintenance and reliability projects.
Orange and Rockland Utilities, Inc. (O&R), a wholly owned subsidiary of Consolidated Edison, Inc., one of the nation’s largest investor-owned energy companies, is a regulated utility. O&R provides electric service to approximately 300,000 customers in southeastern New York State (where its franchise name is Orange & Rockland) and northern New Jersey (where it’s Rockland Electric Company) and natural gas service to approximately 130,000 customers in New York.