This work will affect the inside southbound and center lanes between SW 146th to SW 140th Street.

Here’s more from the city:

Construction times will be between 8 a.m. to 3 p.m Monday through Friday. During this time, travel lanes will be restricted with intermittent closures where heavy equipment is in operation. Left turns will be limited and may require detouring to the next signalized intersection or as directed by construction signage. Businesses especially on the west side of 1st Avenue South should expect limited access at times with intermittent driveway closures.

Steel plates will be used and drivers are cautioned to drive slower on these plates. Caution signs will be in place to inform drivers especially motorcyclists.

All lanes will be open to traffic outside of the construction time. Again, please expect steel plates to be in one of those lanes and use caution when driving over them.

Seattle City Light says that one outage occurred around 11:30 p.m.

The exact cause is unknown, but power was restored to the Home Headquarters of The B-Town Blog in the Three Tree Point neighborhood just before 6:30 a.m.

Crews are responding to identify the exact locations, assess causes, and make repairs.

Customers can get outage information online at www.seattle.gov/light/sysstat.

We’re one of them, and we’ll try to update the blog from our mobile devices, but don’t count on it!

“The reports share a common description of thieves approaching a customer with a ruse that they are going to turn off their power or water and need to go inside the customer’s home,” according to their website.

“We have not heard of any thefts, but want to make our customers aware of these reports so they can protect themselves from such scams,” Customer Care Director Kelly Enright said.

Here’s more info:

• City Light and Seattle Public Utilities do not need to access customers’ homes for any tests.
• City Light and Seattle Public Utilities employees should have identification badges available in plain view for customers to see and review.
• If you are approached by anyone claiming to work for either utility:
• Ask to see the person’s identification.
• Do not allow any such person into your home without City of Seattle identification.
• If the person at your door does not have identification, close the door, secure your home and call police. Be ready to provide a description of the person, the vehicle he or she is driving, license plate number and the direction they were traveling.
• In our Powerful Neighborhoods program, which installs free compact fluorescent light bulbs for residents in targeted neighborhoods, Seattle City Light is working with Ecova, Cascadia Consulting, the Environmental Coalition of South Seattle (ECOSS), and Working Green to hire and train installers, schedule home visits, and deliver and install the products.
• All installers undergo background checks and drug-screening. Installers fluent in more than a dozen languages, including Spanish, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Amharic and Cantonese, are available to visit homes where English is not the primary language. All staff carry Seattle City Light identification. Short profiles and photos of all installers can be seen at http://www.seattle.gov/light/install/installers.asp.

Seattle City Light experienced multiple outages throughout its service territory, starting about 11:15 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 25, when a cold front moved through the area causing wind gusts of 50 mph. At the peak of the windstorm approximately 18,000 customers were without power.

PREVIOUSLY: BTB Reader Carrie Baggaley Rasmussen texted us these pics, taken by her husband Justin, of a large tree down across SW 152nd near the Ruth Dykeman Center, felled by a Christmas Day storm, which also caused scattered power outages in the Burien area.

As you can see in the foreground, a car was also damaged by a fallen telephone pole.

Seattle City Light says that more than 7,000 homes and businesses were affected by the storm, with some of the largest outages in the SeaTac and Burien area – here’s a map showing the outages:

“Crews are responding to identify the exact locations and causes of the outages and then will make repairs,” City Light said in a statement.

Customers can get outage information online at www.seattle.gov/light/sysstat.

If you have any photos of other storm damage, please email us and we’ll try to post them (in-between eating and visiting with family…).

The City of Burien announced Tuesday (Oct. 11) that Seattle City Light has begun removing old wooden utility poles and aerial wires along 1st Ave South as part of Phase One of the 1st Ave South Improvement Project, which was substantially completed in 2009.

According to Seattle City Light, about 50 poles between S. 146th & S. 156th Streets that remained from the project will be taken down on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 14 & 15. Construction work on Phase 2 of the 1st Ave. S. improvement project is expected to begin in November.

A six-block segment of the road between S. 140th and S. 146th Streets will get new sidewalks on both sides, new pavement, new signals and street lighting, landscaping and undergrounding of overhead utilities.

Here’s more from the Project Description:

1st Avenue South Improvements-Phase 2 is scheduled to begin in early fall 2011 with an estimated final completion early 2013. The goals of the project are to improve vehicular and pedestrian mobility, safety and capacity within the corridor. The proposed roadway improvements include:

• Sidewalks on both sides of 1st Avenue South
• Undergrounding of overhead utilities
• Storm drainage improvements
• New pavement
• New signals and street lighting
• Landscaping

Coordination with local businesses, maintenance of business access, and maintenance of traffic during construction are important components to a successful project in order to protect business activity during the construction period. Businesses in the affected area WILL REMAIN OPEN, with customers and the general public having a convenient shopping experience while visiting the downtown area.

Project Manager: Brian Victor
Email: brianv@burienwa.gov

Northwest Sustainable Energy for Economic Development (SEED) is hosting a “City Light Community Solar Q&A” workshop from 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. this Saturday, July 9^th, at the Burien Community Center to discuss a community-based solar energy project involving solar picnic shelters.

This is a free, family-friendly event, and refreshments will be provided.

“Come learn how you can be a part of a Community Solar project!” reads a website, which adds:

Seattle City Light is launching an innovative community-based solar energy project at Jefferson Park. Up to 500 customers will be able to enroll in the first project and receive bill credits for the electricity produced by a group of solar picnic shelters. These solar shelters will generate clean, renewable electricity while providing a place for community gatherings.

This workshop will provide a brief overview of the project, Q&A and enrollment details. Refreshments provided! Families welcome!

The Burien Community Center is located at 14700 6^th Ave SW.

For more info, visit www.buriensolar.eventbrite.com.

“We will come to your house with free CFLs, showerheads and faucet aerators,” reads a statement on their website. “We will install the CFLs and leave behind the showerhead and faucet aerator for you to install. To qualify, you must live in a single–family home or 2–4 unit apartment/condo in the parts of Burien, White Center, North Highline, SeaTac, Tukwila, and Skyway served by Seattle City Light, and the northern part of the Central District.”

Here are some of the FREE products Seattle City Light is offering:

To make an appointment, call 206–449–1132 or send an email to SCL_install@seattle.gov

Here’s more info on City Light’s Powerful Neighborhoods program:

The Powerful Neighborhoods program is a pilot program designed to reach customers who may not have taken advantage of our energy conservation programs in the past. These customers include senior citizens, non-English-speaking households and low-income customers.

We hope that by offering to make home visits and providing energy-saving products, we can educate customers about energy conservation and motivate them to take actions to save money and electricity.

Seattle City Light is working with Ecos Consulting, Cascadia Consulting, Environmental Coalition of South Seattle (ECOSS), and the Working Green to hire and train installers, schedule home visits, provide translations, and deliver and install the products.

All installers have undergone background checks and drug-screening. Installers fluent in Spanish, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Amharic, Cantonese and other languages will be available to visit homes where those languages are primarily spoken.

This project received funding support from the Federal Government under the American Recovery and Revitalization Act (ARRA)

In 2010 The Powerful Neighborhoods program successfully served more than 7,000 homes in south Seattle, installing more than 130,000 compact fluorescent light bulbs, reducing energy consumption by more than 24 million kWh and saving our customers more than $2.2 million on their energy bills.

Thursday’s powerful windstorm knocked out power to some 2,840 residents in the Burien/Normandy Park neighborhoods.

According to Seattle City Light, power went out around 6:30pm and was restored for most customers around 7:30pm.

City Light says the boundaries of the Burien outage were:

• On the north: S 96th St.
• On the south: SW 172nd St
• On the east: 24th Ave S.
• On the west, 33rd Ave SW

Not all customers within these boundaries were affected.

Crews are working to restore the few outages that remain.

For up-to-date outage info, check this City Light website out: http://powerlines.seattle.gov

City Light contractors have been doing inspections around the Puget Sound area since a dog was killed when it stepped on an energized groundcover plate in Queen Anne in November.

The latest discoveries bring the total number of streetlights found with contact voltage to 25.

Crews immediately cut off power and started repairs. There were no injuries.

The three local hotspots are:

• 12841 Shorewood Dr SW, Burien, 31 volts, deteriorated wiring was found, power was cut off, repairs pending
• 12854 Shorewood Dr SW, Burien, 31 volts, deteriorated wiring was repaired
• 12882 Shorecrest Dr SW, Burien, 50 volts, a faulty lamp fixture was discovered, power was cut off, repairs pending

Here’s a map showing the Burien hotspots:

View City Light Streetlights with Voltage in a larger map
The inspections are part of City Light’s ongoing safety testing and repair efforts on all its 30,000 metal streetlight poles and nearby metal facilities.

After a dog was killed when it stepped on an electrified groundcover plate in Queen Anne, City Light initiated testing of all of its metal streetlight poles and related metal equipment.

Two contractors – Davey Resources Group and Power Survey Co. – are conducting the testing.

The contractors have tested about 12,500 pieces of equipment or about 42 percent of the total. Areas where testing has been completed include Seattle Center, Downtown, SODO, Capitol Hill, First Hill, West Seattle, Madrona and Tukwila.

The industry average for contact voltage potential with a metal streetlight pole is 0.3 percent. City Light’s findings are 0.2 percent.

Blair Sorrel, Founder of StreetZaps.com, said:

“Contact voltage is a chronic hidden hazard that can readily victimize an unsuspecting dog, walker, or both. No dog lover could possibly observe a more horrifying scene than witnessing his beloved pet instantaneously maimed or tragically electrocuted. When you exercise your pooch, please exercise greater prudence. Common outdoor electrical and metal fixtures may shock or even kill your vulnerable dog. And depending upon the current, the walker will be bitten and like poor Aric Roman, suffer permanently. But you can, indeed, self-protect.

Just start to adopt this simple strategy — EYEBALL THE BLOCK, AND AVOID A SHOCK. Take a few seconds and make your trajectory toward generally safer, free standing, non-conductive surfaces, ie., plastic, wood, cardboard. Intuit your dog’s cues and if it’s resistant, change directions. Work site perimeters may be live so try to elude them. If necessary, switch sides of the street or your hands when leading to skirt hazards. If you traverse the same route, you may memorize locations of potential dangers. Carry your pooch when in doubt. Consider indoor restroom products like PottyPark when external conditions are chancy or RopeNGo’s hardware-free leash and harness. And don’t rely on dog booties as a palliative as they will actually put your pet at even greater risk since the dog can’t tell you they’re leaking! To learn to more, please see StreetZaps. A safer walk is yours year round if you are willing to open to your eyes and mind to it.”

Some of the other locations where the latest contact voltage was discovered include:

WHITE CENTER:

• 1721 SW Roxbury Street, 111 volts, a faulty ballast assembly was replaced.

WEST SEATTLE/ARBOR HEIGHTS:

• SW Avalon Way and 35th Avenue SW, 104 volts, bad wiring was repaired.
• SW Holly Street and 31st Avenue SW, 107 volts, a faulty lamp head was replaced.
• 4115 SW Arroyo Drive, 84 volts, a faulty ballast assembly was replaced.
• SW Arroyo Drive and 39th Avenue SW, 98 volts, power was disconnected, repairs pending.
• Near 56^th Avenue SW and SW Bradford Street with 103 volts. A crew repaired a connector that was touching the pole and energizing it.
• Near Fauntleroy Way SW and SW Edmunds Street with 97 volts. Power was cut off and crews are determining the cause to begin work on a repair.
• A streetlight cover near Marine View Drive SW and 42^nd Avenue SW with 84 volts. Power was cut off and crews are determining the cause to begin work on a repair.

SEATTLE:

• 4427 Airport Way S, 32 volts, a faulty lamp fixture was replaced.
• E James and 32nd Avenue, 98 volts, bad wiring was replaced.
• E Spruce and 32nd Avenue, 35 volts, a bad connection was found and all connections were replaced.
• E Yesler Way and 28th Avenue, 41 volts, a bad wiring connection was found, power was disconnected, repairs pending.
• 12th Avenue S and S Jackson Street, 100 volts, frayed wiring was repaired.
• A streetlight pole near 12^th Avenue S and S Jackson Street with 100 volts. A crew found frayed wiring that was energizing the pole’s ground wire. Temporary repairs were made to ensure safe operations until a permanent fix can be scheduled.