Ausgrid has begun work on a $6 million project to make the electricity network in Sydney’s inner west safer and more reliable.
About 1.5 kilometers of cable will be pulled off shop-fronts in King Street, Newtown, and placed underground as part of the multi-million dollar project.
Ausgrid’s General Manager Reliability John Eisenhuth said the 18-month project would improve the power supply for local homes and businesses and make the streetscape look neater.
"The existing cables served the community well over the last 20 years, but these types of cables are now installed underground to make them more reliable and safer for power crews to access when needed," Mr Eisenhuth said.
"Specialist crews have been carrying out preliminary work installing new connection points for the new cables, called turrets or pillars, which is the first stage of the project.
"Pillars were installed first to reduce disruption to the community over the busy Christmas and New Year periods.
"Ausgrid is removing streetlight poles that will be replaced with smart poles by City of Sydney Council.
- General Manager John Eisenhuth
"We have visited businesses along King Street over the last six months and discussed the work with them to make sure we schedule the work in a way that minimises disruption as much as possible."
The new cables will be buried in trenches under the footpath along King Street, from Missenden Road to Enmore Road. These underground cables will be connected to the new pillars being installed on footpaths, and each pillar will supply four buildings.
"We have begun excavating some trenches along part of the footpaths to house the cables," he said.
"Temporary reinstatement of the footpath will be completed each day and a permanent reinstatement of the footpaths will be undertaken once all works in the area are completed."
When all cabling work has been finished, existing cables from building facades will be removed.
"We will continue to work with local business owners during the project and keep them updated."
Some night work from Sundays to Thursdays may be required for some aspects of the work to minimize disruption to some businesses.
There may be minor disruption to traffic and pedestrians, and Ausgrid will have traffic controllers on site each day to keep this to a minimum.
More information is available from our project office at 120 King Street Newtown, which is open every Friday, and the project team can be contacted on 1800 643 608 or at info-kingstreet@energy.com.au.
Media contact: Ausgrid News Pager 02 9966 7985.