Palm Beach Undergrounding Master Plan COMPLETE MP Online-v4 | Page 63

Accelerated Capital Improvement Program (ACIP). This is an important consideration when determining which capital projects should be constructed concurrently with the individual undergrounding phases since the undergrounding program will continue past 2019. There is also a desire to construct capital projects that are funded from alternate sources with the undergrounding program to take advantage of the restoration cost sharing involved. In general, capital projects that are expected to have significant roadway impacts should be constructed in conjunction with the undergrounding program to the greatest extent practical. However, a balance needs to be struck so that there is not so much infrastructure work in any one phase that it impacts the ability to complete the undergrounding work elements within the program’s established schedule. Additionally, projects that are required due to public health, safety, and welfare needs should be implemented quickly and not necessarily delayed to be coincident with a phase of undergrounding. Many of the non-bond funded “PayGo” projects are relatively small in scope and/or are located such that roadway impacts are minimal or have a brief schedule duration. Therefore, these projects are recommended to be constructed in TOWN-WIDE UNDERGROUNDING OF UTILITIES PROGRAM MASTER PLAN DOCUMENT accordance with their previously planned programming schedules. There are also a number of identified projects that lack funding at this time. These projects are identified as “On Hold” and “Unfunded” on the Capital Improvement Program Map. In the event that funding becomes available for any of the unfunded projects prior to the construction of the corresponding undergrounding program phase area, this master plan recommends that these infrastructure projects be constructed in conjunction with that undergrounding phase. This will allow for additional restoration cost sharing benefits. Town of Palm Beach Shore Protection Program The Town conducts on an ongoing basis, an active Shore Protection program in order to protect the coastline. While there are several projects anticipated within this program that will occur during the span of the undergrounding project, we do not anticipate much coordination will be required between the programs. This is because the beach renourishment and seawall rehabilitation projects are in areas that will not generally impact the right of way or conflict with the undergrounding work to be performed. Beach renourishment projects that involve truck hauls should be coordinated so the haul route through an undergrounding phase is minimized to reduce the impacts of additional traffic volume through the work zone. City of West Palm Beach Watermain Replacement As discussed in the Data Collection section of this master plan, the City of West Palm Beach does not currently have a formalized program for watermain replacement within the Town. However, they are interested in taking the opportunity to replace aged watermains during each phase of the undergrounding program. The budget available to perform this work is limited to $800,000 per year, which is not sufficient to replace all the watermains that have exceeded their useful life within the Town. This master plan’s recommendation is to focus on the watermains that require replacement on the east- west cross streets in an effort to minimize impacts to the major north-south streets. While it is recommended that the north- south street watermains be replaced at some point in the future, we anticipate this work would cause significant traffic impacts for long periods of time and may slow down the progress of the undergrounding program if performed concurrently. If the City of West Palm Beach does develop a program of watermain replacement during the course of the undergrounding project, additional cost sharing opportunities could be explored through deferral of milling and overlaying activities until both undergrounding and watermain work is completed. Florida Public Utilities FPU is currently under a federal mandate to replace all their bare steel gas main by 2021. Representatives of FPU indicated they were willing to be flexible in the implementation of the remainder of their replacement program in order to better accommodate the needs of the Town. However, this flexibility is subject to the mandate that they replace all bare steel gas main by 2021. Some of the benefits of performing gas main replacement concurrently with undergrounding include increased scheduling coordination as well as road restoration cost sharing. However, some potential disadvantages to working concurrently with the undergrounding program include longer durations of construction disruption and a potential for increased traffic impacts. A potential disadvantage of FPU replacing gas mains prior to the Town’s undergrounding project is that it could result in the installation of a gas main within a proposed utility undergrounding corridor, creating unnecessary PHASING AND SEQUENCING| 49