ANCHORAGE, Alaska—
Extreme snowfall, avalanches, and icing damaged power lines in Turnagain Pass on the Kenai Peninsula last winter, and a project is under way to replace them.
Alaska Public Radio reports in all, 21 spans of the transmission line sagged to the ground during storms in the winter of 2011-12.
The fifteen miles being replaced this winter is in addition to sections that have been replaced over the years.
At $15 million appropriation from the Legislature will pay for replacing the highest priority section of the line, through the mountains above Turnagain Arm along the Seward Highway.
Chugach Electric Association spokesman Phil Steyer says the line was built in 1962 and is badly in need of replacement.
