Designed to fit within the motif of the neighborhood, the revamped Midtown Substation will feature 16-foot surrounding walls that will veil most of the equipment. And that’s not all. Engaging the community in the project, we’ve asked students from the nearby BASIS Phoenix Charter School to help beautify parts of the external-facing walls to help capture the community’s vibrant art culture.
Sidewalks, lighting and landscaping will add to the substation’s curb appeal. It’s likely passersby won’t realize it’s a substation at all based on its appearance.
And, coming soon nearby, look for dramatic expansion at the Evans Churchill North Substation, which will incorporate community and artistic space into its state-of-the-art design.
The expansion plans include a welcome plaza, a performance plaza, benches, colored concrete sidewalks, murals and local art display cases.
While a lot of maintenance work takes place on overhead lines and above-ground equipment like these substations, more than $27 million annually is spent on replacing and maintaining underground infrastructure, which helps enhance reliability and the customer experience.
Since 1988, APS has installed approximately 2,700 trench miles of distribution cable at a cost of $520 million. But the work is far from done as we are committed to replacing another 1,000 trench miles of cable to better serve our customers.
These are just a few examples of the projects we’ve committed to completing as we upgrade and expand the infrastructure of our energy grid across Arizona.
