Thomas Breen photo
A construction crane dismantles Frontier’s transmission tower.
An Orange Street block is now closed, and will be closed for the next two weeks, as Frontier Communications began taking down an obsolete transmission tower Monday atop its downtown office building.
With the help of a towering construction crane, a crew worked Monday morning on dismantling that 100-foot transmission tower perched on top of the telecommunication company building at 310 Orange St.
The Orange Street block between Wall Street and Grove Street is closed to car traffic, while the sidewalk on the eastern side of the street remains open to pedestrian traffic.
Construction contractors on Orange Street.
“Beginning at 6:00 a.m. this Saturday, August 3,” city spokesperson Laurence Grotheer wrote in an email press release last week, “Orange Street will be closed to all vehicles between Grove Street and Wall Street. This closure is scheduled to last until 6:00 p.m. Sunday, August 18.
“A pedestrian walkway will remain open throughout this period and all businesses, residences, driveways, and parking areas will remain open and accessible. A detour will be posted for through traffic, however, and motorists are advised to plan an alternate route.
“This street closure will allow Frontier Communications to remove an obsolete, 100-foot transmission tower from the roof of its building on that block along Orange Street.”
A Frontier spokesperson told the Independent that the telecommunications company is removing the old microwave antenna because, while the building’s previous owner used the tower for microwave transport, Frontier has never used it and was simply paying for maintenance for an expensive, obsolete relic.
Orange Street looking south from Grove Street.
According to the city’s online View Permit database, the Southern New England Telephone Company, a subsidiary of Frontier, paid $28,585.44 to the city for the building permit necessary to demolish the tower. The permit, which SNET received from the city on July 17, estimates that the total demolition work to remove the tower will cost $943,200.
Not sure if I missed something but curious why there is no explanation as to WHY Frontier feels compelled to pay a million dollars (and close a city street) to remove an obsolete transmission tower. Is it a problem for them? Do they have to maintain it? Are they paying taxes on it? It seems like there should be some compelling reason they feel they need to do this but I haven't seen any.