This year residents of Waterbury could be seeing a number of trees trimmed or removed. That’s because nearly 170 miles of city streets are slated to be targeted by tree trimming crews from Eversource, the state’s largest utility.
The utility said it’s investing more than $83 million in tree trimming for 2020.
That investment is comparable to previous years. Eversource pumped between around $70 and $80 million each year going back to 2016, the last time Waterbury was a major focus of the utility’s tree work.
This year, the utility said trees will also be trimmed along 124 miles of road in Greenwich and around 100 miles of road in Woodbury, New Milford and Westport.
Despite the relatively calm winter, the utility says the work is necessary. And that it helps to fortify the grid in the wake of previous stormy years and past outbreaks of pests like gypsy moth and emerald ash borer, that have weakened trees around the state.
Other communities scheduled for tree work include Middletown, Torrington, Stamford, Washington, and Wolcott.