When Estes Park’s electricity grid was built over a century ago, it used copper power lines.
These exposed lines work well enough, but if a tree falls on one it can easily snap and spark a fire. Birds and squirrels can damage the lines. Or snow and wind can disrupt service.
So, about a decade ago, the Power and Communications division of the town’s utility department began to phase out bare conductor lines. Going forward, all new construction has used insulated “tree cable” – so named because it is designed not to break or spark if a tree hits it.
Since 2023, the utility department has replaced about 150,000 feet of insulated tree cable and 350 power poles.
The ultimate goal is to eventually upgrade the entire system. The only barrier is funding. Tree cable is more expensive, which is why most localities still don’t use it.
“We’ve been doing about $200,000 worth of work a year for about 10 years,” Power and Communications Line Superintendent Joe Lockhart said. “We do it in-house because it’s a third of the cost of contracting it out.”
Where the funding comes from
In 2024, Estes Park voters renewed the 1A 1% sales tax supplement for infrastructure projects. Of that revenue, 4.5% was allocated to wildfire mitigation from town power distribution lines. That tax, which is set to expire in 2034, generates about $200,000 a year for the project. However, it could cost an estimated $10 million to upgrade the entire system, Lockhart said.
The department has prioritized areas farthest from town within the service area: west inside Rocky Mountain National Park, and south from Allenspark.
“Our way of thinking is, where can we go that is more remote?” Lockhart said. “More people might spot a fire faster, so these rural areas might burn more before they get reported. So, we’re thinking more remote, and work our way back to town.”
Besides local sales tax, the town has received some major grants to support the work, including $786,000 in federal appropriations requested by Rep. Joe Neguse, and $538,000 from the Colorado Energy Office’s Grid Hardening program for small and rural communities. A portion of the latter grant funded the undergrounding of a portion of the main feeder line between the town’s two main substations.
Ideally, all power lines would go underground, but it is much more expensive to do so, and rocky conditions in the Estes Valley make it infeasible in most places.
“The reason we go overhead is it might be $15 a foot compared to $50-150 a foot,” Lockhart said. “It all depends on how rocky it is, if you have to blast.”
Even so, the utility department digs underground where it makes sense, often when there is new construction and the ground is dug up anyway. Most of downtown Estes Park has underground lines.
About 15 miles south of Estes Park, crews are working on taps off the main line from Highway 7 down dirt roads. First, a tree crew cleans up the easements under the power lines. This can be upsetting to some residents, but it is necessary to have clearance.
Many of the power poles across the system have deteriorated, with some dating back to the 1930s. So crews are also replacing poles along with lines. A second crew installs a new pole next to an old one. Then the line crew comes along behind to attach the new line to the new pole before switching the power over and removing the old line, so power is not interrupted.
Power and Communications recently converted an old public works truck into a water truck with a tank on the back. The vehicle follows along to job sites in case crews accidentally start a fire.
“When working on the powerline a lot of things could start sparks,” Lockhart said. “So now we run a pumper truck just in case. Obviously, we still call the fire department, but we can get a head start.”
Click here to see and track current construction projects on an interactive map.
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