A helicopter hovered over the Fore River for more than an hour Tuesday as utility crews worked on a transmission tower.

Central Maine Power Company is replacing 1.2 miles of 115-kilovolt transmission line from Cape station to Hinkley Pond station as part of a five-year, $1.4 billion upgrade of its transmission system.

Tuesday’s project involved replacing half-inch copper line with one-inch steel encased in aluminum to increase the line’s capacity, said CMP spokeswoman Gail Rice.

The crews were lowering the old line Tuesday, replacing it with a cable that will help string the new line this weekend.

The work is scheduled to be completed by Sunday and the utility does not expect any power interruption.

 

A worker with Hawkeye LLC clips his bucket onto a helicopter as he and another worker prepare to leave a transmission tower in South Portland on Tuesday. Workers are replacing a power line as part of an upgrade project by Central Maine Power. Workers had to access this tower by helicopter because its base is in the Fore River near the South Portland shore. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

 

A worker with Hawkeye LLC climbs a tower in South Portland on Tuesday. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer
 

On a tower in South Portland on Tuesday, workers from Hawkeye LLC remove insulators on a power line that will be replaced as part of an upgrade project by Central Maine Power. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer