CHARLESTON, W.Va., April 25, 2013 – A section of Interstate 77 just north of exit 138 at Ripley will close briefly this evening sometime around the five o'clock hour so that Appalachian Power crews can safely raise into place a 69 kV transmission line that crosses the highway. The closure will affect both northbound and southbound lanes and should last around 20 minutes.

The transmission line being raised fell onto a smaller distribution line earlier today, leaving more than 1,800 customers in the Ripley area without electricity. Once repairs are made service will be restored to affected customers.

Travelers are advised to consider alternate routes during this period.

Appalachian Power has 1 million customers in Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee (as AEP Appalachian Power). It is a unit of American Electric Power, one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, which delivers electricity to more than 5 million customers in 11 states. AEP ranks among the nation’s largest generators of electricity, owning nearly 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S. AEP also owns the nation’s largest electricity transmission system, a nearly 39,000-mile network that includes more 765 kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems combined.

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