Substation work may add traffic Residents of Powersville Road in Medway invited to Tuesday meeting

MEDWAY – Residents of Powersville Road may see an increase in traffic while Great Lakes Hydro America installs a new substation in Township 5 Range 7.

In an effort to inform residents about any traffic change, selectmen have invited a Great Lakes official to an informational meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 12, at the middle school.

“We thought it might be a good idea to let people know there is going to be some traffic on that road,” said Brian Wiley, Great Lakes project manager. “We would like to talk to residents regarding the Powersville Road and the fact that there is going to be slightly more traffic on it than usual. We want residents to understand why we are going in there.”

Great Lakes will be installing a new substation in T5 R7, located across the Penobscot River from Great Northern Paper Co.’s East Millinocket paper mill. The new substation is part of a new transmission line project. Wiley said the company plans to build a new access road off Powersville Road to gain access to the substation site. Construction is expected to begin within a month and end by June.

“What we are doing is not going to cause any real rift as far as traffic goes,” said Wiley. “It is not going to become a major highway or change the traffic flow. It is a very slight change for a very short period of time.”

Wiley said the company needed to build a new road to the site so a 70-ton transformer and a crane could be transported there on a special flatbed trailer. He said there would not be a steady stream of traffic to the substation site and large equipment would not be hauled back and forth, but would be taken to the site and left there until the job was completed.

Once the substation is built, the new road will be gated and will be used by Great Lakes and Bangor Hydro Electric Co. officials for normal access by pickup truck.