Tower goes up in Carlton as part of upgraded broadband system

Photos by Tom Rivers

CARLTON – Workers from Upstate Tower Construction in West Seneca are putting up a 180-foot-high tower in Carlton today. The tower is next to the Town Hall and highway garage on Waterport-Carlton Road.

These workers are 100 feet up after the first five sections, each 20 feet long, were installed. The workers will bolt the new section.

The project is paid for as part of $2,990,000 grant from the state to the county through the Statewide Interoperable Communications Grant.

The grant pays for the new tower in Carlton, a new tower and equipment at the Orleans County Emergency Management Office on West Countyhouse Road in Albion, and two backup 911 dispatch consoles at the EMO site.

The Carlton tower is the fifth new one to go up as part of the county’s broadband internet project as well as an improved emergency radio communications network. The other towers included 180-foot-high towers are next to the Public Safety Building on Route 31 in Albion, Millers Road in Yates near the water tank, and at the Kendall Central School near the bus garage. The other tower is 150 feet high next to the Holley water tank on Route 237.

The previous towers were completed in 2020 with a $5,897,141 grant. That money also paid for communication shelters, technology to connect separate radio systems and new radio channels.

Workers move a sector frame for where equipment will be installed near the top of the tower.