WSDOT Control Zone Mitigation Program

November Wind Storm

Updated ETRs

To our customers without power:

We know it has been a difficult three days. And we have some hard news to share for some of our customers. Due to the substantial amount of damage we are encountering from the hurricane force winds of the storm, which has made our work slower than expected, we have to push back estimated restoration times for customers.

We will have three restoration times:

Saturday at 12pm

Sunday at 6pm

Monday at 10am

We are in the process this evening of updating our outage map with the estimated restoration times for your outage. We are working as hard as we can to get power restored to you sooner than the times listed above. As our field crews gain more detailed information about your outage, we will update the outage map with a more specific time.  

WSDOT Control Zone Mitigation Program

Puget Sound Energy reliability project

Program overview

This program is part of the Washington State Strategic Highway Safety Plan, better known as Target Zero, which aims to have zero deaths and serious injuries on Washington’s roadways by 2030. To learn more about Target Zero, please visit https://targetzero.com/.

PSE is working to improve public safety as well as protect the integrity of its electrical infrastructure by relocating power poles farther off of state roadways. The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) has established the highway “control zone” (which is determined by the speed limit, traffic volume and contour of the shoulder) to enhance traffic safety. Per this WSDOT standard, the control zone should be free of obstructions to decrease the likelihood of cars coming into contact with objects adjacent to the roadway. PSE’s pole-relocation initiative is intended to bring poles into compliance with WSDOT’s control zone standard, and further decrease the possibility of cars coming into contact with power poles.

PSE estimates as part of this public-safety initiative, the utility will relocate between 5,000 and 7,000 of its 14,000 poles currently located along state highways. Under a 2012 agreement between PSE and WSDOT, PSE has set a target of 10 years to relocate all of its power poles outside the control zone, or find an alternate mitigation approach approved by WSDOT.

Stretches of highway that have experienced the most accidents involving power poles are expected to have first priority for relocation. We will provide more details on scope, timing and prioritization planning as soon as we have them. Visit the Washington State Department of Transportation website for more information about WSDOT’s control zone requirements.