Business

New power poles planned through the marsh

Published

3 years ago

September 7, 2021

The electric company is getting ready to replace some transmission lines through the La Crosse River marsh.

Xcel Energy has briefed the city board of public works on its plans to remove overhead lines with a series of underground lines and smaller poles.

Mike Herro of Xcel says the first part of the project is supposed to be done this year, with nearly 30 poles to be erected.

Herro says the project resulted from problems they had in the marsh during flooding two years ago,

“In high water, we had 4 or 5 poles…that were angled at about 45 degrees. They’re not supposed to be like that. They’re supposed to be straight up and down, so we had quite an effort to get out there to temporarily anchor them, bring them up,” said Herro.

Xcel says the project is partly designed to provide a better view of nature for people using the marsh.

Brad Williams

A native of Prairie du Chien, Brad graduated from UW - La Crosse and has worked in radio news for more than 30 years, mostly in the La Crosse area. He regularly covers local courts and city and county government. Brad produces the features "Yesterday in La Crosse" and "What's Buried on Brad's Desk." He also writes the website "Triviazoids," which finds odd connections between events that happen on a certain date, and he writes and performs with the local comedy group Heart of La Crosse. Brad been featured on several national TV programs because of his memory skills.