The City of Ottawa is opting for underground hydro lines when it overhauls Elgin Street starting next year.
The $36.3-million redevelopment project, which will see sidewalks widened and underground infrastructure renewed on the popular pedestrian street, will also involve the replacement of wooden hydro poles, city staff wrote in a memo issued this week.
Given the physical challenges associated with redesign of the Elgin streetscape, Hydro Ottawa has recommended that hydro wires be buried underground. The utilities provider estimates the additional cost of burying the hydro lines at $3.1 million, $1.2 million of which would be covered by the city.
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City council will make the final decision on burying the wires.
Major construction on the Elgin Street redevelopment will start in January, with the road fully closed to traffic from Gloucester to Isabella streets. Elgin Street will be reopened to two-way traffic by 2020, with landscaping and finishing work wrapping up later that year.
