Residents of University City were treated to some unique pole dancing this month — though not the kind you’d think. The San Diego Utilities Undergrounding Program marked another milestone as the final utility pole was pulled from the ground at Stresemann and Ducommon streets in University City on March 13. SDG&E heavy equipment carefully lifted the pole from the ground and it danced away while dignitaries, media and neighbors watched. District 1 City Councilwoman Sherri Lightner joined Tony Heinrichs, director of the Public Works Department, Stuart Wells, SDG&E’s public affairs strategy manager, Ignacio De La Torre, executive director of external affairs for AT&T and project manager Mario Reyes at the pole-removal ceremony, ending the three-year project in the west end of University City. The speakers addressed San Diego’s long-range plan to remove overhead power and communications lines with a safer and more reliable underground system. They praised the community for its patience with the inconveniences that necessarily occurred with so much equipment and so many contractors and laborers involved in trenching and placing new utility lines in new conduits — all of which effectively made the change from overhead to underground. The speakers also noted how well SDG&E, Time Warner Cable and AT&T worked on the project. San Diego has been undergrounding utility lines since 1970, when the public works project began during the time Scott Peters represented District 1. The city has been making the change in older communities like UC, and in this community — after three years and $7.5 million — the project is finished. Nearly 450 private residences have watched the progress of undergrounding 3.4 miles of overhead utility lines, beginning in April 2009. Fifty streetlights have been installed and further plans call for 115 trees to be planted in the parkways. Finally, the 14 streets in the undergrounding program will be resurfaced or slurry sealed in a few months. To learn more about the program, visit www.sandiego.gov/undergrounding. Check out the video to gain an understanding of what is involved.
