Nebraska Public Power District got a newly constructed transmission line up and running Monday.
The 345,000-kilovolt transmission line runs from Axtell to Kansas for 53 miles and is needed to help ease the bottleneck that existed in the regional transmission grid. The line is also supposed to be more reliable in an ice or wind storm because of its north-south pathway.
The project began in 2009 and had to go through the process of public hearings, many meetings and the actual construction process, which took about one year.
"I
would like to thank the public, and especially the landowners along the line
route, for their cooperation," said NPPD's Senior Project Manager Craig Holthe.
"Much of the reason why this project has gone so smoothly can be attributed to
their support and willingness to keep open lines of communication with us. We
expect this to be the beginning of a long-standing relationship."
The
Axtell to Kansas project was initially budgeted at $77 million. Final costs and
associated payments have not yet tallied, but it is believed that the project will come in under budget.
