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Holladay opts to leave overhead power lines on Highland Drive; seeks federal and regional grants to fill $17.1M shortfall
Summary
After a multi-year planning process, city staff recommended keeping overhead power poles on Highland Drive to lower costs. The project estimate is $22 million, with $5 million secured and $17.1 million still needed; staff will pursue WFRC and federal BUILD funding and begin right-of-way and design work.
Holladay staff gave a detailed update on the Highland Drive corridor project and recommended the council proceed without undergrounding the electrical utilities, a change that reduced the city’s projected cost and made the project financially feasible to advance.
Assistant City Manager Holly Smith said the corridor — from Arbor Lane to the Van Winkle Expressway, bookended by Holiday Hills and Holiday Crossroads — has been studied for more than a decade. Early conceptual work put the project at roughly $30 million, including an $8 million estimate to underground utilities. After staff secured a more detailed Rocky Mountain Power cost assessment, Holly said the undergrounding estimate rose substantially and the city’s refined project estimate is now about $22 million if the existing overhead poles remain in place.
“That brings our budget down quite a bit, and it’s something that I feel like we can get our arms around,” Holly said, recommending the council leave the poles as-is rather than proceed with undergrounding at this time.
Funding and schedule
Staff reported $5 million already secured and said they are preparing a $5 million WFRC application and a federal BUILD application (the BUILD program can award up to about $20 million). Holly said the city will start design and right-of-way acquisition with the funds it has, which in turn strengthens future grant applications by demonstrating leverage and progress. Jared, a city staff engineer, said the design will treat the poles as a horizontal constraint and preserve space for sidewalks, buffered paths and multimodal improvements.
Right-of-way and construction implications
Holly said the city has acquired a portion of needed right-of-way through prior intersection work but estimated roughly two dozen properties remain for narrow "strip takes" rather than full acquisitions. Jared told the council that right-of-way acquisition could take more than two years based on prior projects. Council members pressed staff about the risk that Rocky Mountain Power might later upgrade the line and install larger foundations and poles; staff said the utility has long-range plans but has not presented a firm schedule and that any future utility upgrades would be the utility’s decision and could affect aesthetics or easement widths.
What council asked staff to do
Council gave informal concurrence with staff’s recommendation to keep overhead lines in place, to proceed with design and right-of-way work using the secured $5 million, and to pursue WFRC and federal BUILD funding to close an estimated $17.1 million gap. Staff will return to council with grant application status and contract documents as required.
Why it matters
Highland Drive is a key regional corridor serving schools (Oakwood Elementary School and Bonneville Junior High) and commercial centers. The project aims to reconstruct failing pavement, add continuous sidewalks and bike facilities, address stormwater issues and improve transit stops. Leaving the poles in place reduced the project’s cost enough that the city expects to be able to begin design and ROW work while actively seeking the larger grants needed for construction.
