O&R’s New Tuxedo Park Project to Improve Electric Service Reliability

Orange & Rockland (O&R) will begin work this week in Tuxedo Park on a significant project designed to reinforce the electric system, and to fortify it to improve resiliency and minimize storm-related service interruptions.

This project calls for upgrading nearly three miles of existing overhead conductor with higher capacity, sturdier, tree-resistant cable. Approximately 100 utility poles also will be replaced with new, sturdier, taller poles.

Ten automated switches will be installed to allow O&R’s energy control center operators to remotely respond to power outages. Those devices isolate system problems when they develop and minimize the number of customers affected by individual outages. Also, additional tree- trimming and tree removals will be performed to prevent potential tree problems and power outages.

O&R has secured all required public approvals and permits for this project and public officials have been briefed. Letters have gone out to community residents to inform them of the project. Weekly project meetings will be scheduled with community leaders to ensure they stay informed of the work’s progress. 

This project benefits the entire village. The work zone is centered around the area which includes the Tuxedo Park School, The Tuxedo Club, a Verizon communication switching station, the village waste-water treatment facility and the village department of public works building.

The specific roads affected in this project will include: Circuit Road, Clubhouse Road, Continental Road, Lake Road, Lake Stable Road, Laurel Road, Lorillard Road, Mountain Farm Road, Ontio Road, Patterson Brook Road, Summit Road, E. Summit Road, Tower Hill Road, Turtle Point Road, West Lake Road and Wee Wah Road.

O&R has contracted with Haugland Energy LLC to perform all aspects of the upgrade-related work including tree-related work, and the installation of new poles, conductors, transformers, automated devices and system protection equipment. Haughland Energy will remove all old wires and coordinate with Verizon and Altice for the removal of the old poles. Haugland Energy has hired Green Velvet Tree to perform the tree work. O&R will provide onsite oversight of the contractors’ activities.

Work is expected to begin on or about February 24 and continue through August as follows:

• Tree trimming and removals - beginning week of February 24 and ending in April.
• Setting new poles – beginning late February.
• Installing new conductors – beginning in April and ending in July.
• Transferring utilities – beginning in July.
• Removal of old poles – beginning in August.

The contractor crews will be performing the work generally between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. Traffic control flaggers, safety cones and signs will be fully deployed for workplace safety as necessary. Motorists should exercise extra caution while driving through the work area. Expect periodic traffic delays and occasional detours as the work progresses.

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 is known as Rockland Electric Company), and natural gas service to approximately 130,000 customers in New York.