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Lessons Learned: Our Team has an extensive working background with municipalities and utility companies on similar projects. By working through utility conversions on past projects, we are familiar with the types of problems that are applicable to this kind of project. The following is a synopsis of key issues related to previous utility conversion projects performed by our Team: Coordination with all Stakeholders Coordination between the various utility companies, the municipality, property owners/leaseholders and contractors are paramount to the successful and timely completion of the project. • The municipalities have control over setting the priority and timeline of the work. • Utility providers must take into account their future needs during the design of the conduit system. • To prevent delays, property owners need to be involved early in the process. • Contractors must fulfill all commitments to stakeholders during construction. Completing a Detailed Design Completing the design in the following order – Power and then Communications – has led to fewer redesigns. • Research the existing easements. By recognizing areas with existing easements or right-of-way, the number of new easements diminishes. • Survey the project area to identify existing utilities and infrastructure. • Compile information into a CAD drawing. The new underground power distribution system will be designed based on this CAD file. • Share the design with the other affected utilities for use in design. • Perform a design field review with all affected utilities and City representatives to “ground truth” the design. • This process has been beneficial in reducing the number of change orders once the project is underway. Acquiring Easements, Encroachments and Permits By adhering to the following principles, we have learned how to minimize delays typically associated with the easement process. • After the initial design phase, a general notice is given to the public, and the process of contacting property owners is initiated. This can take anywhere from six months to a year. This is typically the mo st time-consuming portion of the project. • Non-primary residences and condominiums pose potential delays in contacting nonlocal property owners. • It’s crucial to verify that commitments made to property owners during the easement acquisition process are included on the construction plans. This is especially significant when dealing with replacement or restoration of items such as driveways, fences, landscaping, etc. • Coordinate with stakeholders before applying for encroachment applications and permits. This coordinated effort for permits and encroachments work better than the affected utilities each applying for a permit independently. Construction/Administration The construction and administration phase is the final push of the project. Our experience with the utility conversions gives us insight into the construction process and how to overcome hurdles to keep the project on schedule. • Once easements, encroachments and permits have been obtained, the contract for installing the underground conduit system goes out for bid. • The municipality remains in control of the contract administration. The municipality, or designated consultant, is responsible for inspecting the installation of the conduit system. • The municipality installs the conduit system including the enclosures/pedestals. After installation of the conduit system is completed by the municipality, individual utilities begin pulling their new underground cables. The underground cable is pulled in the new conduit system and terminated in the enclosures/pedestals that were installed by the municipality’s contractor.