The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has announced the preferred route for the new transmission line along with the location of Tri-State EMC’s new 161-kilovolt substation.
A press release from TVA Thursday, May 14 announced the plans.
TVA introduced the project earlier this year by explaining how Blue Ridge’s substation had exceeded capacity and Epworth’s is not far behind.
The incorporation of a new transmission line along with another substation is expected to resolve issues.
The line will begin at TVA’s Basin-Toccoa River 161-kilovolt transmission line and extend southwest to the new substation which will be located near 2700 Scenic Drive.
It will cross above Harmony Lane, off of Scenic Drive in Blue Ridge behind Walmart and head northwest to Davis Road where it will then switch directions, turning northeast over Watkins Road and across Ada Street.
It will run parallel with Black Gum Lane, which is off of Ada Street, until it forks at Dry Creek to expand along Hogback Drive and Cardinal Drive respectively.
On the Cardinal Drive side, it will trek northeast to Mineral Bluff across Gibbs Drive where it will fork again and run parallel with River Estates Road and end just across Douhit Road.
On the Hogback Drive side, it will end approximately 600 feet beyond Amanda Court where it will fork again with each side expanding another 300 feet going south and east respectively.
TVA expects to spend around $6.5 million on the project.
The preferred route is alternative route number seven, consisting of segment numbers six, seven, nine and 11 as proposed at the January open house.
The route is expected to have the least social, environmental and engineering impacts; however, a National Environmental Policy Act review is pending.
The project will require new right of way, and TVA will meet with property owners to obtain easements for construction, operation and maintenance of the line.
Property owners will be allowed to keep their property and will be compensated for the easements at fair market value.
Surveys for the project should begin in the fall, the acquiring of easements should being in the summer of 2021, construction should begin in the winter of 2021, and it should be completed in the spring of 2022.
A map of the project is available on TVA’s website www.tva.com/transmissionprojects.