Underground utilities project launches on Longboat Key

On Monday afternoon, July 22, Longboat Key’s ambitious underground utilities project got started with a hole in the ground alongside Gulf of Mexico Drive.

The three-and-a-half year, $49.1 million effort was organized by the town in conjunction with contractors CDM Smith and Wilco Electrical. Some of the goals of the project include improved cell phone services and consistent high-speed internet, but first things first.

Power lines and a fiber-optic backbone have to be installed underground, from one end of the island to the other, and into each and every neighborhood, condo complex and business. 

Current aerial facilities such as Comcast, Florida Power & Light and Frontier are all being moved underground.

Wilco began boring just south of Longboat Club Road. on the west side of GMD at around 2 p.m.. 

Project Manager/Town Consultant Mark Porter of CDM Smith, involved with this project for two years, was pleased to see years of planning come to fruition.

“All this time, it’s finally getting going,” Porter said. “I’m excited today to get this thing started and actually see the construction go.”

Recent gas and water line breaks in Longboat Key had Porter and Raul Zamarripa, Wilco’s project manager, discussing how they would avoid such mishaps.

“These guys, they have a lot of their own locating equipment on hand where a lot of the underground bore companies I’ve experienced in the past don’t,” Porter said.

Zamarripa echoed Porter’s sentiment, noting that his team has their own locators as well as ground penetrating radar to track what's underground.

Town Manager Tom Harmer stopped by the site Monday to check on progress.