Time To Bury Our Utility Problems

To the Editor:

While watching the utility work in the center of town over the last several weeks, I think we missed an opportunity to improve the aesthetics of our town while preparing ourselves for future storm events had we buried the utilities instead of having them reinstalled above ground. I know that cost is always the driving force for making hard choices, but when it comes to utility work, I get the impression that erroneous numbers are used to discourage the burying of utilities.

The number I often hear is a million dollars per mile, which would give anyone pause for undertaking such an improvement. As a developer of subdivisions, I can say from experience, that my cost has always been a fraction of that amount. Admitted, I don’t have to tear up existing work and the cost of the paving goes to the road cost and not the utilities. In our town’s case, the utility companies are picking up the cost of a brand new utility infrastructure and we would have been responsible for the cost of opening and repairing the roads. In my opinion, I would not have minded the additional cost, seeing how visible (or how invisible it could have been), the center of town is to all of us.

I know I oversimplified the costs and logistics, nevertheless, in the future we should coordinate with the utility companies when we are undertaking a road or sidewalk improvement project and see if it fits into their plans for service upgrades. In this manner we could improve aesthetics and performance at little additional cost.

Regards,

Kim J. Danziger

5 Stonewall Ridge Road, Newtown                         January 31, 2012