Duquesne Light to move transmission towers in Pittsburgh's Hays Woods to more stable ground

Construction crews working in Pittsburgh’s Hays Woods are moving Duquesne Light’s transmission towers to a more stable area within the park, according to the utility company.

“There’s a bunch of Duquesne Light transmission towers, and one of them is on unstable ground and is starting to move,” said City Councilwoman Barb Warwick, D-Greenfield. “They need to move that transmission tower back, up the hill a little bit, to put it on more stable ground.”

A Duquesne Light spokeswoman said the towers are now sitting on landslide-prone ground.

“We are conducting a time-sensitive project that’s intended to protect our transmission towers from possible landslides in the Hays Woods area of Pittsburgh,” Duquesne Light spokeswoman Alyssa Battaglia said in a statement. “We are in the process of safely moving these potentially destabilized towers away from the hillside, several yards further inland.”

Battaglia said the first step is “to do limited clearing and grading to prepare an area to be accessible for utility trucks to safely pass through.”

Crews are removing some trees, she said, but they designed the access road “to use existing alignment pathways to the greatest extent possible in order to minimize any necessary tree removals and maintain the park’s extensive tree canopy.”

Warwick said city officials and Duquesne Light have worked together to ensure the access road meets the city’s requirements. The access road construction work is expected to take a few weeks, Battaglia said.

After the access road is completed, Duquesne Light crews will begin relocating the transmission towers in work that should be completed by the end of the year, Battaglia said.

The work “will not affect electrical service for any of our customers or residential neighborhoods,” she said.

The 624-acre Hays Woods was officially designated as a Pittsburgh park in July. The sprawling wooded area — which includes city-owned lands in Pittsburgh’s Hays and St. Clair neighborhoods as well as Baldwin — is the city’s second-largest park.

Officials have said the park will remain mostly untouched with an emphasis on preserving wild spaces. The park, known for its eagles, likely will see some new or improved trails, as well as ecological restoration work, city officials have said.