PGE is committed to minimizing impacts on homes, businesses and the environment. We intend to follow existing transmission or energy corridors wherever possible.

Main route from Boardman to Salem
The map shows different corridors under study for the main route. All three begin at PGE’s Coyote Springs Plant in Boardman and end at our Bethel substation east of Salem, following existing transmission corridors most of the way.

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Willamette Valley upgrades
In order to reliably distribute the additional electricity the Cascade Crossing transmission line would bring to the Willamette Valley, PGE will need to install new conductors on existing subtransmission lines in east Salem. This essentially will involve re-wiring on existing poles; we do not anticipate changing the route of these lines.

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In addition, upgrades to PGE’s existing 230-kilovolt line from Salem to Oregon City may be required. In most cases, this would require removing existing wooden H-frame structures which hold a single-circuit 230kV line, and replacing them with two parallel monopole structures which each carry a 230 kV line. It also would require upgrading the Bethel substation east of Salem and the McLoughlin substation in Oregon City.

We do not anticipate expanding the existing transmission right of way, except possibly in a handful of places where the line crosses near other transmission lines. While the Bethel and McLoughlin substations would be upgraded, the PGE property would not be expanded.