[November 18, 2009] Qwest to move utility lines, freeing up 5 road projects: Company fell behind on engineering, but all seems resolved now Tweet Nov 18, 2009 (The Arizona Daily Star - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Despite an economy that has contractors scrambling for work at bargain-basement prices, several Pima County road projects were on the brink of being stalled because Qwest Communications hadn't moved its utility lines from under the streets. Qwest has agreed to start moving utilities that are affected by five county road projects, but only after the county threatened to withhold permits for other work affecting Qwest customers, such as repairs to existing fiber-optic lines. Utility companies, including those that provide water, sewer, natural gas, electricity and communications, use publicly owned rights-of-way in the streets and shoulders of roads for free. In exchange, they have to move the utilities when the government wants to widen those streets, said Priscilla Cornelio, director of the County Department of Transportation. In the case of the Interstate 19 frontage road work in Green Valley, the county contractor was already working on the project when it discovered Qwest lines hadn't been moved out of the way. Qwest said it just wasn't prepared to do the work on this and other projects. "We did fall behind on some of the engineering on some of these jobs," said George Favela, a Qwest spokesman. The utility does all its engineering and relocations in-house. After two meetings between county and Qwest staff, the company has agreed to a schedule for moving its lines so road work can proceed, Favela said. Pima County's accelerated construction dates got ahead of the company's response, he said. "We were aware of them, but basically we just failed to anticipate how fast they were going to move. Once we did, they called and said, 'You're causing us delays,' so we reacted to that and started moving resources," Favela said. The county isn't having this problem with other utility companies, Cornelio said. The Transportation Department holds monthly construction-coordination meetings with utilities, and Qwest showed up at those meetings, she said. Metro Water goes beyond that and keeps in close contact with the department, said General Manager Mark Stratton. "I meet regularly with Priscilla Cornelio to talk about issues and timing, to make sure she's aware of our issues. I get updated on their issues and timing," Stratton said. "Especially with what's going on these days, there's a lot of need for that." For the North La Canada Drive widening project, Metro Water awarded its contract for the relocation work this summer and crews started working in July or August, Stratton said. Like Qwest, Metro Water said the county's accelerated schedule and goals to get so many voter-approved regional transportation projects under way has created a heavy workload for the utilities. "One of the things that's been happening is, because they've been able to save so much money on construction projects because of the economy, they're adding more projects because the money is available. The adjustment of the schedule is harder to keep track of because it's a little bit of a moving target," Stratton said. The county is going to try to encourage better scheduling by requesting that utilities do some preliminary work to locate their lines under the streets while the Transportation Department is still only in the design phase of projects. That way, once the design is finished, utilities can get working right away, Cornelio said. the work ahead Qwest needs to move its communication lines before construction can begin or proceed on these county projects: --North La Canada Drive widening from West Ina Road to West Calle Concordia. --I-19 frontage road construction from Continental Road to Canoa Road. --East Tanque Verde Road widening from North Catalina Highway to North Houghton Road. --North La Cholla Boulevard widening and new bridge from West River Road to West Ruthrauff Road. --East Sunrise Drive widening from North Craycroft Road to North Kolb Road. Contact reporter Andrea Kelly at 807-7790 or [email protected] To see more of The Arizona Daily Star, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.azstarnet.com. Copyright (c) 2009, The Arizona Daily Star, Tucson Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]