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Laredo TIRZ board hears update on AEP pole relocations for Zaragoza improvements
Summary
KCI engineer Edward Ochoa told the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone No. 1 board the utility company AEP has marked locations for new steel poles on Zaragoza Street; poles will be taller and wooden poles will be removed after telecom providers relocate lines.
AEP has marked the locations for new steel poles along Zaragoza Street, and the utility will raise lines out of pedestrian view once work is complete, KCI engineer Edward Ochoa told the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone No. 1 board on June 10.
The pole work is part of the broader Zaragoza Street improvements. "They're going with 50 foot tall poles. The current poles are, about 35 to 40 feet, they said," Ochoa said, adding that new poles will generally be placed in or adjacent to existing locations.
The taller, 50-foot steel poles are intended to leave lines higher and less visible once all lines are moved. Ochoa described the sequence: AEP will install the steel poles and move its electrical lines; after that, Spectrum and AT&T will relocate their lines from wooden poles. "Once everybody gets off of the wood poles, then they can, you know, remove them," he said.
Ochoa said AEP marked locations adjacent to a seating/retaining wall and in xeriscaped areas; two new poles will be set at either end of the seating wall. He also said he negotiated a shorter guy-wire placement to avoid blocking a business service door and estimated the guy wire would extend about eight feet from a pole location.
Board members asked practical questions about construction details. When asked whether AEP uses in-house crews or contractors, Ochoa said his experience shows AEP sometimes uses employees and sometimes outside contractors. On how holes will be backfilled, he said crews will "pour concrete" in locations where poles are removed and that some adjacent brick work may need to be reset.
The board did not take an action on the AEP work during the meeting; Ochoa provided the update as part of standing project reports. No change to the project schedule or contract was announced.
Board members and staff indicated the roadway and pedestrian improvements are otherwise complete and in use; the pole relocation remains a near-term coordination item with utilities before final removal of wood poles and site restoration.
