ITC to deck out Mich. power towers for holidays

Holiday cheer will spread to high-voltage transmission towers in Metro Detroit and Michigan.

Novi-based ITC Michigan will decorate 10 of its 150-feet tall transmission towers around the state for the upcoming holidays.

“Our tower decorations have become a holiday tradition in Michigan,” said Simon Whitelocke, ITC Michigan's president. “We’re happy to join the communities we serve all across the Lower Peninsula in celebrating this festive time of the year.”

ITC owns and operates the high-voltage power lines and towers in Michigan's lower peninsula that are used to move electricity from power plants to substations. The company is a subsidiary of ITC Holdings Corp., the country's largest independent electric transmission firm.

Local energy companies like Consumers Energy or DTE Energy generate electricity and own the substations used to distribute power to businesses, homes and schools.

From Nov. 20 through Jan. 5, 2018, the 10 ITC towers will be decorated with a rope of lights that's about one-third of a mile in length and that has 17,700 bulbs and stars at their tops.

They will also have 10-foot-by-15-foot signs that read "Happy Holidays."

The company said the towers at the following locations in Michigan communities will be decorated:

• Interstate 94 west of Haggerty in Belleville
• I-75 between Dixie Highway and M-46 in Bridgeport
• I-75 between Van Horn Road & Vreeland Road in Brownstown Township
• I-75 south of exit 278 in Gaylord
• US 131 north of 28th Street SW in Grand Rapids
• South of Plymouth Road and Hines Drive in Livonia 
• M-29 and Huron Boulevard in Marysville
• I-96 at Meadowbrook in Novi
• I-94 north of Fred W. Moore Hwy in St. Clair County
• Hall Road east of M-53 in Sterling Heights

cramirez@detroitnews.com