Indiana Michigan Power to hold public meeting on line improvement project

The meeting will be in the Alexandria-Monroe High School cafeteria from 5 to 8 p.m., said I&M spokesman Tracy Warner.

The Alexandria Area Improvements project will provide additional electricity necessary to support the developing Alexandria Business Park and the area's future growth, Warner said.

He added that the electric utility's goal is to replace equipment and enhance the reliability of service to customers, and to reduce the likelihood of outages related to the repair of aging electric infrastructure.

"This is a pretty old system," Warner said. "Parts of our system are nearly 100 years old."

Key project components include:

• Building about 25 miles of new transmission line
• Upgrading the voltage on approximately 10 miles of existing transmission line
• Retiring about 30 miles of high voltage lines
• Building two new substations
• Retiring two existing substations

Warner said the purpose of the meeting is to gather comments about the project from customers and landowners.