Underground Project Afoot in West End

Workers are digging up West End roads in an effort to install electrical systems underground throughout the neighborhood after Hurricane Sandy.

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Mike Alvich, a foreman for Hawkeye, the company hired to perform the work, said the project involves burying primary electrical lines and transformers under roads to better protect the systems during storms.

Workers are in the midst of installing pipes, through which the electrical lines will pass, on West Beech Street from Ohio to Georgia avenues. Westbound traffic on West Beech was being rerouted north on to Georgia, as of Wednesday.

“We expect to have that work completed by Friday,” Alvich told Patch.

Workers will then perform the same work on West Beech from Maryland to Indiana avenues on Dec. 16 and 17, and then from Arizona to New York avenues on Dec. 18, 19, and 20.

“There’s a possibility that we might be done by Friday the 20th,” Alvich said.

If the pipe installation stays on schedule, the electrical lines and transformers can be installed the week after Christmas, Alvich noted.

“I know it’s a problem now for people,” he said of the necessary road work, “but when we’re all done it’s going to be a big help during storms.”