Bonneville Power Administration's wood pole management program

Abstract

Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) has been engaged in an active wood pole maintenance program for over 30 years. During this time, the Agency faced many challenges pertaining to wood pole problems, particularly the Western Red Cedar and Douglas-fir pole species. As a result of programs developed and implemented over the years for correcting internal and external decay (rot) situations, BPA has been able to increase the service life for wood poles while decreasing the cost of maintaining the system. The BPA wood pole management program breaks down into five major areas. They include: new wood pole specification and third party inspection; ground-line inspection and remedial treatment programs; above-ground or climbing inspections and treatments; pole repair; and record-keeping and reporting. This paper covers the complete life cycle of a BPA transmission pole.<>