ITC Midwest is continuing to install brand new power poles and lines across Highway 22 near Kalona. The company has been working in Washington County since January when they started work in Riverside and moved west. The upgraded power lines along Highway 22 run for 8.9 miles from a substation at the intersection of Highways 218 and 22, east of Riverside, to a substation at the junction of Highway 22 and 1 in Kalona. The existing 34.5 kilovolt lines are being replaced with 69 kilovolt lines to better provide additional back-up capacity during planned and unplanned outages and increase the current system’s capacity. According to the company, since ITC Midwest acquired the transmission system in 2007, the number of outages have decreased by 63%. Upgrades are anticipated to be completed by mid-October.