Town of Palm Beach's $128 million undergrounding project continues to make progress
Progress continues with the town's efforts to bury all of its overhead, electrical, phone and cable television lines.
In an update on the 10-year, $128 million town-wide undergrounding project provided to the Town Council on May 14, Town Engineer Patricia Strayer said 13 of the 15 construction zones are either complete or funded for construction.
Those zones include 1 North, 1 South, 2 North, 2 South, 3 North, 3 South, 4 North, 4 South, 5 North, 5 South, 6 North, 6 South, and 7 North.
The project, which began in 2017, is expected to be complete by 2027.
Here's the current status of each phase in the undergrounding project:
Phase 1 South, from Sloan’s Curve to the south town limit: Complete.
Phase 1 North, from Onondaga Avenue north to the Palm Beach Inlet: Complete.
Phase 2 North, from Onondaga Avenue south to Osceola Way: Complete.
Phase 2 South, from Sloan’s Curve to the intersection of South Ocean Boulevard and South County Road: Complete.
Phase 3 North, from Osceola Way to the north side of La Puerta Way: Complete.
Phase 3 South, from South Ocean Boulevard and South County Road to the alleyway south of Worth Avenue: Construction is 91% complete. Conversion is about 75% complete, with the remaining commercial sites to be completed this summer. It is unclear when poles will be removed.
Phase 4 North, from the south side of La Puerta Way to the north side of List Road: Construction is 95% complete. 75% of poles have been removed.
Phase 4 South, from Peruvian Avenue to Royal Palm Way: Construction is 76% complete.
Phase 5 North, from Country Club Road to Southland Road: Construction is 85% complete. Comcast has begun installation. Crews have begun energizing the underground network.
Phase 5 South, from South Lake Drive/Hibiscus Avenue and Peruvian Avenue/Royal Palm Way and properties between the Intracoastal Waterway and the Atlantic Ocean, and from Royal Palm Way to Seaspray Avenue: Construction is 83% complete. All switches have been energized. It is unclear when poles will be removed.
Phase 6 North, from Chateaux Drive and Kawama Lane to the south side of Plantation Road: Construction is 71% complete. Poles expected to be removed by the end of 2024.
Phase 6 South, from Seaspray Avenue to the south of Royal Poinciana Way: Construction is 29% complete. Poles expected to be removed in 2025.
Phase 7 North, from Palm Beach Country Club north to the south side of List Road: Construction is 10% complete. 100% of easements have been approved.
Phase 7 South, from Atlantic Avenue north to Via Los Incas and Sanford Avenue: Design is 100% complete and on schedule. 100% of easements have been approved. The town expects to receive a bid for construction in 30 days.
Phase 8, from Royal Poinciana Way north to Everglade Avenue: Design is 80% complete and on schedule; 83% of easements have been approved.
Strayer told council members she will return next month with a "next-to-last" construction contract for them to review.
Additionally, she said, just 10 easements for the project remain to be secured.
Through eight phases of undergrounding, Strayer added, the town has not had any condemnations or lawsuits associated with the easements.
"When I first came on board and we started talking about undergrounding, easements were going to be the big thing that as going to be a major hurdle for us," she said. "And now we're almost done getting easements in Phase 8."
Strayer also addressed concerns about switch cabinets placed in the Midtown area as part of the undergrounding project. Switch cabinets are boxes that hold switches and controls for electricity running underground.
Residents have complained about the size, number and placement of the boxes, and the council agreed to put together an informal task force to look into potential solutions for screening them from view.
"Hopefully we can focus on coming together and coming up with a way to screen these all the way around," Council President Bobbie Lindsay said.
Jodie Wagner is a journalist at the Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at jwagner@pbdailynews.com. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Palm Beach's $128M undergrounding project continues making gains