Oshkosh workshop weighs costs, easibility and corridors for moving overhead utilities underground

Oshkosh City officials and staff held a workshop on Oct. 22, 2024, to examine whether and where overhead utilities should be moved underground, the engineering limits and the likely costs, and to ask staff to return with corridor recommendations and consolidated policy options.

City staff presented technical background, telling the workshop that underground utilities generally reduce weather- and tree-related outages and improve the look of streets but carry higher upfront costs and can be harder and slower to locate and repair when outages occur. Speaker 2, the workshop presenter, said utilities in Oshkosh are split roughly between Wisconsin Public Service (WPS) and AT&T on poles, and that a mix of telecoms, county and school-district attachments creates considerable congestion in many right-of-way corridors.

The discussion focused on three practical constraints: space, easements and financing.…