Electric utility crews installed about 1,700 circuit feet of tree wire this month in a northern Sammamish neighborhood prone to tree-related outages.

“This area of Sammamish was specifically chosen because of a history of outages,” Puget Sound Energy spokesman Ray Lane wrote  in an email. “We believe this tree wire will help reduce the number of outages there.”

Potelco Inc., the electric utility contracting firm that replaced the old wire at Northeast 55th Street and 190th Place Northeast, partners with Puget Sound Energy to manage, design, permit and construct electric utility projects in the Northwest.

Tree wire is sturdier utility wire, designed to withstand a branch falling on it; the wire prevents electrical shortages and subsequent outages.

While it cannot prevent outages caused by an entire tree falling into a power line, it significantly lowers the frequency of tree-related power outages.

Other areas in Sammamish and Issaquah have also been identified and pinned for upgrades, Lane said.  More work is scheduled for July.