UI Starts $2.6M East Side Modernization

Thirty-eight trees and an old electrical substation are set to become history as United Illuminating crews begin to upgrade service in Fair Haven, Jocelyn Square and a slice of East Rock.

UI is beginning the project this week. As in other parts of town, crews are trimming overgrown trees to protect power lines in storms. They’re replacing 70 older electric poles with new taller ones (as they have been doing in Westville spots like Edgewood Avenue, in the top photo).

The $2.6 million east side project, which covers about five linear miles, also includes de-energizing and demolishing the 60-year-old Gilbert Street substation at 532 Grand Ave. And removing dying trees identified by the city’s tree warden. The bulk of the work is expected to be completed at the end of December.

The project will enable UI to upgrade electric service in the area from a 4,000-volt to a 13,800-volt system. The substation will not be rebuilt; instead, lines in the area will be connected to the more modernized regional grid. Those changes will enable UI to keep service going more reliably, especially during outages, said UI vegetation manager David Goodson. Fair Haven will no longer be ​“islanded” with an ​“outmoded” system.

“Its useful life has run out,” Goodson said of the substation. ​“There are very few parts of our system that operate at that [4,000] voltage. When we upgrade this area from the Gilbert substation, that area will be tied into the rest” of the modernized system, Goodson said.

The UI plan also calls for burying the power lines beneath the I‑91 overpass bridge on Humphrey Street rather than seek to fit taller poles there.

UI released the above map showing where it plans to prune trees and do other work. The dark green dots represent spots where it plans to remove the 38 trees. (Each dot in many cases represents more than one tree.) Red dots represent spots where crews plan to prune trees to previous clearances; orange, where they’ll be pruned to eight feet or less.

UI relied on the city to identify those 38 trees, which are mostly sycamores, elms, and maples. Under state law, the company must post notices on each targeted tree. It plans to do so some time this week. Then citizens have 10 days to register complaints with the tree warden, who is parks and recreation chief Rebecca Bombero. Bombero said citizens can call her at (203) 946‑8004. She has the responsibility for making a final decision after complaints come in.

UI tree-trimming and city tree removal regularly prompt controversy. On one side, some citizens argue that the company pays too little attention to an important part of the environment and goes overboard in destroying trees. Other complain that some dying trees remain in the ground too long, endangering people. And UI is under pressure to keep the juice flowing during major storms, which have increased in number and severity as the planet undergoes climate change. Some have suggested that UI bury power lines, a prospect the company calls prohibitively expensive.

Anstress Farwell (seated in photo) of the Urban Design League expressed concern about some of the planned new tree removal, when Goodson and fellow UI officials made a presentation about the plan at last week’s Downtown Wooster Square Management Team meeting.

“Will there be replacement trees planted?” she asked Goodson.

“That’s up to the city,” he responded.

“Jocyeln Square needs a lot of help right now,” pressed Farwell. ​“Losing more in that neighborhood will make it harder to get that park back.”