Undergrounding Power in Downtown PT

Though the sidewalks are poured and Water Street repaved, the PUD’s work on the downtown project is just ramping up. From August of 2018 until May 2019 we are going to be busy pulling wire and connecting buildings and businesses to new underground electrical service between the ferry terminal and Taylor Street. We’ll also be taking down the old overhead service: removing wires, transformers, and eventually the power poles too.

Work will be ongoing for many months, but interruptions to local businesses, residents, and visitors will be minimal. PUD or contractor vehicles will occupy limited numbers of parking spaces for short times. Work will generally be confined to earlier morning hours and will be completed in 4 phases:

In each phase connections to new underground electrical service will require planned power outages and will be performed on a customer by customer basis. Each outage is anticipated to last between two and six hours. The PUD will give plenty of notice and will, when possible, work with specific businesses, building owners, or residents to determine the most acceptable hours for service interruptions.

    • PHASE 1: August-September 2018. Involves properties between WA State Ferry Terminal and the building housing Quimper Mercantile and Don’s Pharmacy on the south side of Water Street as well as between Subway Sandwiches building and the Sanderling Building on the north side of Water Street.

      PLANNED OUTAGE SCHEDULE FOR PHASE 1:

      • Tuesday August 14, 2018. Planned outages for the Ferry Terminal and the Plaza from 9pm-2am. During the day pull in primary and secondary wire and terminate.  This is from the area next to the Subway building to the  Ichikawa building and the primary vaults in front of the Plaza.
      • Wednesday August 15, 2018. Planned outages for the Subway building, Windermere, US Bank, and Ichikawa from 9pm-2am. During the day install the transformer next to Ichikawa.
      • Thursday August 16, 2018. Remove overhead secondary wire and de-mobilize.

    • PHASE 2: October-November 2018. Includes all properties between Sanderling Building and Polk St on the north side of Water Street. Includes some excavation work on Polk Street to extend underground conduit to new ground mounted transformers behind the buildings.

    • PHASE 3: October-December 2018. Involves all properties between Polk St and Tyler Street on the north side of Water Street. Includes excavation on Tyler Street to connect underground conduit to new ground mounted transformers behind buildings. Also, the boring of a tunnel under Washington Street to bring power from overhead to underground on Tyler.

    • PHASE 4: January-May 2018. Involves all properties between Tyler and Taylor on both side of Water Street and all of Taylor Street downtown.

For more information on the project, you can also visit the City of Port Townsend’s website: cityofpt.us/publicworks/project/water-street-enhancement-project