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Subtransmission Project (STP)

Project Description:

On September 22, 2009, the City Council of Riverside adopted the Initial Study and Mitigated Negative Declaration for Riverside Public Utilities’ Sub-Transmission Project (STP) and it approved the Project. The STP re-enforces the north-eastern side of Riverside Public Utilities’ (RPU) 69,000 volt (69 kV) electrical sub-transmission system. The purpose of the STP is to resolve RPU’s critical sub-transmission infrastructure and capacity deficiencies needed to maintain reliable electrical service to its customers. It will add approximately 3.9 miles of double circuited 69 kV sub-transmission lines to the network and reconfigure existing connections between RPU’s various substations to optimize the existing capacity of RPU’s electrical system. In addition, it rebuilds the electrical distribution and street lighting systems where there is need to install, remove, and relocate poles along the route.

Project Location:

Located within the north-east section of the City of Riverside, the project area is bordered on the west by State Highway 91 and on the east by Interstate 215. The alignment for the new sub-transmission lines begins at Vine and Tenth Streets then runs east between the two highways along Vine, Ninth, Commerce, 10th, Victoria, 11th, Sedgwick, and 12th Streets, then south along Chicago to 1,200 feet south of Martin Luther King (MLK) Boulevard and then east through the University of California Riverside (UCR) Agricultural Research property where it will intercept an existing north-south transmission line approximately 950 feet west of Canyon Crest Drive. It will then intercept the same north-south line approximately 850 feet north of that point and continue eastward across Canyon Crest Drive to the 60/215 Freeway where it will then turn south along the west side of the Freeway and continue south-easterly to the south side of El Cerrito Drive where it will intercept the existing La Colina to Springs sub-transmission line.

Construction Progress

Due to the complexity of the work, the STP is being constructed in phases. The First Phase, completed in November, 2010, converted the overhead electrical distribution facilities to underground along Tenth Street between Commerce Street and Park Avenue, and it rebuilt the overhead electrical facilities along a portion of Tenth Street, Park Avenue, the alley south of University Avenue between Tenth Street and Park Avenue, and along a portion of Victoria Avenue. The Second Phase, completed in February, 2011, constructed the distribution and sub-transmission lines along Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Streets between Commerce Street and Chicago Avenue. The Third Phase, completed in January, 2011, converted the overhead electrical and distribution facilities to underground at the intersections of Chicago Avenue and Martin Luther King Boulevard (MLK), Chicago Avenue and Ohio Street, and Chicago Avenue and Enterprise Avenue. The Fourth Phase, completed in January, 2012, combined two interrelated and overlapping projects; the relocation of the poles and lines that were in conflict with the 91HOV Freeway between Eleventh and Fifteenth Streets, and the reconstruction of the lines for the STP along Vine Street between Tenth and Fourteenth Streets. The Fifth Phase, completed in May, 2012, extended the new sub-transmission lines from Tenth and Commerce Streets north along Commerce Street to Ninth Street and then west to Riverside Substation located on Vine Street between Ninth and Tenth Streets and, it reconfigured the lines in front of the substation.

There are three remaining phases of work, Phases Six, Seven, and Eight. Phase Six, to be constructed in the late fall of 2012, will reconfigure a pair of sub-transmission lines within Riverside Substation and along Vine Street between Eleventh and Fourteenth Streets; Phase Seven, to be constructed in early winter of 2013, will reconfigure a pair of sub-transmission lines on Rustin Avenue south of Marlborough Avenue; and Phase Eight, tentatively scheduled to start in the fall of 2013 and to be completed by the spring of 2014, will complete the balance of the work. It will extend the sub-transmission lines from Twelfth Street at Chicago Avenue, south to approximately 1,200 feet south of Martin Luther King (MLK) Boulevard, east to the 60/215 Freeway, and then south-east along the west side of the Freeway where it will intercept an existing sub-transmission line south of El Cerrito Avenue