NEW SOUTH responds immediately to ComEd’s need to restore 200,000 outages
Challenge:
A devastating storm hit the Midwest spawning 80 tornadoes, leaving 200,000 ComEd customers without electricity. The most destructive tornadoes reached a Fujita scale of EF-4 and packed winds of up to 200 mph, obliterating homes, farms and buildings across Illinois and northern Indiana, leaving roadways unsafe and impassable. The number of mats needed to provide temporary access roads for ComEd crews was massive and the timing was of utmost urgency. Coordinating with multiple NEW SOUTH and ComEd project managers, mat resources and transportation crews was challenging and required a huge team effort from all companies.
Solution:
NEW SOUTH’s ComEd account manager (project coordinator?), project managers and transportation team responded immediately, working closely with ComEd’s restoration team and ROW commissioners to deliver and install 4400 mats, building safe, temporary access roads needed to pass through the areas of devastation to restore power. It required a massive team effort in coordinating thousands of mats delivered from numerous sites by our transportation team of over 200 carriers and moving NEW SOUTH crews from site to site as prioritized. NEW SOUTH team members worked around the clock to ensure that all mats needed were delivered and installed when ComEd crews needed them.
Project Stats:
Response time: Immediate
Lay Down: Highly Efficient – 1.5 Weeks
Pick Up: Highly Efficient – 1.5 Weeks
Truckloads: 240 loads of mats
Mats used: 4400
Outcome: ComEd replaced 7 towers and repaired 4 towers in highly efficient time
Safety: Under unsafe conditions, there were no safety incidents reported
