- April 18, 2024
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By early 2021, residents of Longboat Key’s northern and southern neighborhoods will likely receive their electrical power through underground cables and have their neighborhoods and segments of Gulf of Mexico Drive illuminated with new streetlights, according to a new schedule released this week.
The document, which is now based on four, roughly equal-sized construction phases instead of the original five, envisions total completion of the $49.1 million project by the end of 2022. The project, one of the state’s biggest underground-utility conversions, was originally envisioned to take about five years when launched in July 2019. The more compact timeframe is based largely on smooth progress from the outset and no unexpected snags along the away, officials said.
Work to install conduit and power cables has been completed along Gulf of Mexico Drive on the northern and southern portions of the island, though more work remains to connect the cables to the power grid and energize the system.
Phase One, which kicked off on the southern end of the island last summer, extends north to include Country Club Shores and the Longboat Key Club, on both sides of Gulf of Mexico Drive. The town envisions underground work and take down of FPL poles and cables to wrap up in the third quarter of this year along Gulf of Mexico Drive and in the neighborhoods. Power line boring and town fiber-optic cable are being laid separately but on the same schedule to avoid work crews having to pass through the same areas twice.
Phase Two, which extends from the northern tip of the island to Dream Island Road, is planned to be wrapped up by the end of 2020 along Gulf of Mexico Drive and by the middle of 2021 in the neighborhoods.
Phase Three, from Country Club Shores to the county line, is expected to wrap up by the end of 2021 along GMD and a few months earlier in the neighborhoods.
Phase Four, from Dream Island Road south to the county line, is expected to finish by the end of 2022.
