GAHANNA, Ohio, Aug. 26, 2013 – A transmission line improvement project in Delaware County being done by AEP Ohio and AEP Ohio Transmission Company requires AEP to do work through approximately two miles of Alum Creek State Park.

           To allow AEP to do the work safely, public access will be restricted weekdays in some areas of the park Sept. 3 through 30.

           The work area is approximately a quarter mile south of U.S. 36 / State Route 37 along AEP’s electric transmission line. Park areas in the work zone will be closed to the public weekdays through Sept. 30. The Big Run Road horse trail access and parking, and the Curve Road parking area will be closed for the duration of the work project. For park visitors’ safety, signs will be posted at affected park locations.

           AEP will replace four tower structures within the park with new steel poles, install new insulators and hardware on the new structures, transfer the existing line to the new poles and then install a second circuit on the vacant side of the existing tower line. AEP will replace a tower located on a small peninsula along the west side of the lake with a new pole structure built near Old State Road. All new structures will be located within AEP’s existing line right of way.

           AEP, the Ohio Power Siting Board, Ohio Department of Natural Resources and Alum Creek State Park officials are working together on the logistics of the project.

           More information about the Trent-Delaware Line Improvement Project can be found at www.AEPOhio.com/LON

           Park visitors should contact Alum Creek State Park at 740-548-4631 or visit www.ohiodnr.gov for more information.

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           AEP Ohio provides electricity to nearly 1.5 million customers of major AEP subsidiaries Ohio Power Company in Ohio and Wheeling Power Company in the northern panhandle of West Virginia. AEP Ohio is based in Gahanna, Ohio, and is a unit of American Electric Power. News and information about AEP Ohio can be found at AEPOhio.com.

           American Electric Power is one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, delivering electricity to more than 5 million customers in 11 states. AEP ranks among the nation’s largest generators of electricity, owning nearly 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S. AEP also owns the nation’s largest electricity transmission system, a nearly 39,000-mile network that includes more 765 kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems combined. AEP’s transmission system directly or indirectly serves about 10 percent of the electricity demand in the Eastern Interconnection, the interconnected transmission system that covers 38 eastern and central U.S. states and eastern Canada, and approximately 11 percent of the electricity demand in ERCOT, the transmission system that covers much of Texas. AEP’s utility units operate as AEP Ohio, AEP Texas, Appalachian Power (in Virginia and West Virginia), AEP Appalachian Power (in Tennessee), Indiana Michigan Power, Kentucky Power, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, and Southwestern Electric Power Company (in Arkansas, Louisiana and east and north Texas). AEP’s headquarters are in Columbus, Ohio. News releases and other information about AEP can be found at AEP.com.

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