City may bury power lines on North Temple

Already committed to spending $6 million to embed a light-rail line to the airport in concrete, the Salt Lake City Council could spend the rest of its $10 million budget for the North Temple Grand Boulevard project underground.

The City Council is considering spending $4 million to bury power lines along the street as officials look to turn North Temple into a formal entrance to the city. But some worry doing so would have the city digging too deep.

In order to bury the power lines and make improvements to North Temple — landscaping, lighting and station enhancements that many deem critical to the project's success — the city would have to dip into its capital-improvement funds for more than a decade.

"We're in a tight spot here," Councilman Luke Garrott said. "It's going to take some cutting, and some of us are in the cutting mood. It would be great to shoot the moon, but we know … we can't quite get there."

Councilman JT Martin echoed those thoughts, noting the council recently was only able to fund four of 70 projects out of the beleaguered capital-improvement fund.

Burying the power lines along North Temple while the Utah Transit Authority is constructing the TRAX line is a one-time opportunity that could have substantial savings, said community and economic development director Frank Gray.

Rocky Mountain Power, which would have to relocate the power lines during construction of the TRAX line, has agreed to spend money that would have gone toward that relocation to bury the lines, Gray said.

The result is roughly $3 million in savings, he said.

Garrott said abutting property owners should pony up for burying lines.

But Councilman Soren Simonsen said the "legacy" project is worth the costs.

"I think we can find a way, even with the risk of putting other projects on hold elsewhere in the city," Simonsen said. "This project is a priority. I personally am interested in seeing us push this as far as we can."

Simonsen said he believes the current economic problems will be short-lived.

"We talk about the future. We talk about better days coming," Martin said. "But we're going to be going to those better days in the hole. We just need to be careful. And wish us all luck."

With construction already under way, the council must make a decision by this week.

Also Tuesday, the City Council agreed to pay as much as $700,000 to redesign the North Temple viaduct.

The city secured $50 million from UTA, the Wasatch Front Regional Council and the Legislature, but it has since run into a funding gap on the project of more than $20 million.

Officials said they now believe they can secure up to $74 million through a variety of funding sources, including community-development and special assessment areas. UTA, meanwhile, has agreed to keep the project cost under $71 million.

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