Contractors for Traverse City Light & Power (TCLP) will begin a project to remove approximatey 238 trees along Parsons Road near Oakwood Cemetery today (Tuesday), with work expected to be complete by June 13. 

The trees are being removed as part of a project to upgrade 2.71 miles of transmission line from Barlow to Parsons Road. Approximately half of the utility’s 13,000 customers are serviced by the transmission line, and a substation fed by the line is the main backup feed for all of downtown. The distribution circuit is also the main backup feed for the airport industrial park and the air traffic control tower. The transmission project will shorten the line – decreasing line loss and improving reliability – and underground a section of line in front of airport property, bringing TCLP into compliance with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) clearance requirements.

As part of the project, TCLP will be undergrounding facilities along the north side of Parsons Road. In order to construct the trench and avoid other utilities located in the same location, TCLP is removing  a large number of trees, mainly scotch pine, between the Parsons Road right-of-way and the Oakwood Cemetery fence from Airport Access Road west for approximately 1,550 feet. Following the tree removal, TCL&P’s construction contractor, Newkirk Electric, will begin installing the trench. The work will require a lane shift along Parsons Road between Hastings Street and Airport Access starting Tuesday, May 31 through July 31. Two-way traffic will be maintained, and signage and barricades will be in place around the work area.

A significant replanting with colorful native trees and shrubs, such as arborvitae and native bushes, is "planned as soon as practicable," according to TCLP. "This will ensure that the trees will not grow to a height that will impede required FAA runway clearances as well as add some color during the spring and summer to this corridor."