Cleveland Utilities traffic engineers have completed work with a contractor to repair 10 of 19 city intersections that are rigged with Opticom preemption equipment maintained by the Cleveland Fire Department that allows for interruption of traffic cycles during periods of emergency response.

Bart Borden, CU vice president of the Electric Division, reported in a recent formal session of the Cleveland Board of Public Utilities that electric engineers are working with contractor Temple Inc. to evaluate and repair the junctions.

“None of the existing 19 intersections were fully functional at the beginning of the testing and 10 intersections were repaired,” Borden explaind. “[These 10] were working by the end of the inspection.”

The remaining nine require equipment replacement.

“A quotation for the equipment is being prepared by Temple and Cleveland Utilities will be providing an estimate for labor to perform the replacement work,” Borden said.

The Opticom equipment allows for emergency responders such as the fire department to interrupt the traditional cycle of busy intersection traffic lights in order to assure safe, timely and better protected passage by emergency responders through the junctions.

In other Electric Division reports, Borden updated board members on the following projects:

- A work order was released to construct a new three-phase power line along Michigan Avenue Road to the new Cleveland Regional Jetport. The project involves the installation of 26 new poles and three primary conductors.

- Primary underground and pad mount transformer relocation has been completed at the Pilot Travel Center at Exit 20 on Interstate 75. A 225 KVA pad mount transformer was moved and will continue to serve the existing structure with an expected load of 110 KW. An expansion of the structure will accommodate a new McDonald’s restaurant with an expected load of 110 KW, Borden reported.

- A work order was issued to provide permanent service to the new Hampton Inn located at 4355 Frontage Road. It will be a 93-room motel.

- A work order was issued for temporary service to a job trailer located at 2024 Broomfield Road (the site of the former Cooke’s Food Store off Springplace Road, a small bank branch and a hardware store). A new Super Saver grocery store will be constructed on this site.

- A work order was released to install path lighting along the Cleveland/Bradley County Greenway from Raider Drive to Woodcrest Circle. A total of 25 new decorative LED fixtures are to be installed at an estimated cost of $70,836. Lighting for the Tinsley Park Trail, which is becoming a segment of the Greenway, is currently on hold. It will be installed when grade work is completed.

- The new AMI meter installation project is moving full-speed ahead. Phase 1 is finished at a cost of $104,282. Phase 2 is now 75 percent completed; its estimated cost is $100,749. Phase 3 is yet to be started. Its estimated cost is $105,000. To date, CU crews and a contractor (Apex Covantage) have installed 22,539 AMI meters. Total project calls for the installation of 31,050. This means the AMI meter installation is 72.6 percent completed, Borden explained. CU is currently billing off 19,932 AMI meters of the 22,539 that have been installed.

- Project updates, and percentages of completion, were also provided by Borden on several Electric Division initiatives. They included the Peerless Road electric line rebuild, the Freewill Road circuit tie, the airport feeder line, and the Appalachian Substation Control Building addition and two feeder breaker replacements.