City utility upgrades in progress; cable TV expansion targets rural areas
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette
Members of the city’s Electric and Cable TV committee look over maps of the city’s power grid during its meeting Tuesday in the City Council chambers. Click to enlarge.
Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2013, 11 p.m. — The city’s Electric and Cable TV committee received updates Tuesday afternoon on several utility projects under way and listened to plans for future upgrades and expansions.
FIBER-OPTIC EXPANSION. For those Cox’s Creek residents who have waited for city cable TV and high-speed internet, the end of their wait is near.
Cable and internet will soon be available north to the High Grove area, and west of US31E down Solitude Road (KY 480) and Deatsville Road (KY 523) to Deatsville, Mills told the committee. The project includes more than 380 homes and is anticipated to be completed in March. Additional fiber-optic expansions that are set for completion in March include service to King Road, Whitesides Road and Highgrove Road.
Parts of Highgrove Road are in Spencer County, and Mills explained that unless the city had a cable franchise agreement with Spencer County to serve Highgrove Road customers, they would only have access to cable internet service.
Fiber-optic projects due for completion in June include Hutchins Lane; Loretto Road; Fairfield Road; T. Hahn Road and southern Lenore Road; Hibbs and Mobley Mill Road.
Expansion projects for the fiscal year beginning July 1 include service to Bellwood Road, Tom Vittitow and Leamon Ford roads; Ben Irvin Road; Hobbs Lane; Hutchins Ridge Road, Manton Road and Bear Creek; Pottershop Road; Lily Pike, Highway 55 near Bloomfield and Boston area.
DIGITAL CONVERTER COSTS. Mills told the committee he may propose a reduced monthly fee for the city-provided digital conversion boxes necessary for older TVs in areas where basic cable has been converted from analog signals to digital. The city’s costs for the second and third converters are less, and those savings could be passed on to customers.
ELECTRIC LINE UPGRADES. City Electrical Engineer Jeff Mills updated the committee on work to upgrade the capacity of several overhead utility lines in order for the lines to carry greater voltages. The upgrade isn’t designed to add capacity, but to allow the city a way to pick up the electrical load if the substation at Barton’s distillery experiences a failure.
“If there’s a problem at that substation, the south end of the city will be without power,” Mills explained. The upgraded lines will be able to provide power to the affected area by sharing the load with other substations.
Other work that remains to be completed includes upgrades to power lines behind the Old Stable all the way to Flaget Avenue.
A future project the committee discussed was the completion of a “loop” that would provide a source of power to the Bardstown Industrial Park if the existing line that service suffers damage or equipment failure.
Public Works Director Larry Hamilton explained that with future growth in the area, there’s no back up way to provide the industrial park with power if it is needed. The $1 million project would provide redundancy, Hamilton explained. “There’s going to come a time when we can’t [provide that backup power] from our substations,” he said.
Committee Chairman Bobby Simpson will report to the full council at a future council meeting.
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