The effects of a power outage over the summer have lingered in La Grange, where work is still being done to address the series of electrical systems outages.
Two outages occurred in August and affected about 15,000 customers overall in La Grange, LaGrange Highlands, Western Springs and Countryside.
The first outage was the night of Aug. 11 and affected about 9,000 customers. It stemmed from equipment problems at the McCook station. Power was restored temporarily that night, but problems continued and another outage occurred during the night Aug. 14. About 5,700 customers were affected by the second outage and ComEd brought in generators to keep the power on in the La Grange downtown business district and elsewhere.
Following the outages, ComEd established a command center and village personnel were involved in finalizing an action plan and putting that plan into motion, assistant village manager Andrianna Peterson said.
In addition to repairs to the McCook station, ComEd reviewed the circuits and equipment serving the business district and identified improvements including the replacement of cables, insulators, disconnects and fuses as well as station enhancements. It is projected that the work on these improvements will be completed by this summer, according to the village of La Grange.
ComEd also has replaced two transmission lines under Cossitt Avenue, from west of Tilden Avenue to Gilbert Avenue. One of the new lines that extends into Western Springs will be a backup to La Grange in the event of an interruption of power supplied from the east. This work was completed in November.
ComEd is replacing sections of cable and other system components. It is projected that the work will be done by summer and will occur in the following areas:
* Rear/front/side lots along Maple Avenue, between Waiola Avenue and Catherine Avenue
* North side of Maple Avenue from Spring Avenue to LaGrange Road
* Rear lots between Madison Avenue and La Grange Road, between 51st and 53rd streets
* Rear lots between La Grange Road and 6th Avenue, north of Elm Avenue
* Rear lots between La Grange Road. and 6th Avenue, between Goodman Avenue and 47th Street
* North side of 48th Street from La Grange Road to 8th Avenue
* Rear lots between South La Grange Road and South 6th Avenue, between Maple Avenue and Goodman Avenue
* Rear lots between South 6th Avenue and South 7th Avenue, between 49th and 50th streets
* Rear lots between South Madison Avenue and South La Grange Road, between 49th and 51st streets
Village President Tom Livingston said village staff is keeping tabs on the upgrades.
“I think ComEd is doing a good job of keeping the schedule and making improvements without a lot of disruption,” he said.
He expects the work to result in a more reliable system.
“I believe the improvements will address the reliability issues and will modernize the business district,” he said.
Residents directly impacted by the work in the spring and summer will receive notification from ComEd in advance, according to the village.
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