By Steve Berg
TULSA, Okla. — PSO has started a major project to beef up the infrastructure that supports the main, high-voltage transmission lines in south Tulsa.
PSO spokesman Matt Rahn says the biggest change will be the new power poles they’ll be installing, that can handle much stronger winds.
“They’re going from wooden structures to steel structures,” Rahn said. “So they’re going to be much better suited to things like the Father’s Day storm.
Rahn is referring to the derecho that hit Tulsa in the overnight hours between June 17th and June 18th – Father’s Day – in 2023, with straight-line winds that were estimated to reach 100 miles per hour in some locations.
Around 200,000 PSO customers lost power during the storm, some for several days.
In all they’ll be covering around 10 miles of transmission lines, running from the Hudson substation by LaFortune Park, all the way down to the Jenks area.
The whole project will take about a year.
They’ve started on the east side of LaFortune Park on Hudson Avenue, which will have some frequent lane closures during the next few months while the work is going on there.
