PORT TOWNSEND — A delay in telephone cable delivery will push the expected completion of the Taylor Street renovation project back at least a few weeks.
Work on Taylor Street between Washington Street and Union Wharf originally was expected to be completed by the end of May, but that date was pushed back to the end of this month.
Now it is not expected to be finished until sometime in July, according to officials for both the city of Port Townsend and the phone service provider.
City Manager David Timmons said the delay will not affect the reopening of Taylor Street to vehicle traffic, still expected to occur later this month.
One layer of asphalt is still required, along with the marking of parking spaces on both sides of the street.
Timmons said telephone vendor CenturyLink informed the city last week that the necessary cable would not be available in time for the planned removal of utility poles on the west side of the street.
All but two of the poles on the east side, which held electrical and cable television wires, were removed Friday.
The conduits for the telephone cables were put in place when the sidewalk was replaced during the renovation project, which began in February.
Timmons was on location Friday and expressed frustration about the delay.
“They’ve known for months that we were going to need this cable,” he said.
“We’ve had meeting after meeting after meeting, so you’d think they would have gotten the cable.
”They just forgot to order it.”
CenturyLink spokesman Jan Kampbell contradicted this, saying the company could not order the cable until it had notice of the exact quantity needed.
That was supplied by the city at the end of May, she said.
“As soon as we received the information from the city, we placed the order,” she said.
“It should be here any day now.”
Once the cable arrives, it will be threaded through the conduit.
The existing phone cables then will be disconnected and hooked up to the new cables, which will cause a short interruption in phone service.
CenturyLink will then remove the poles, which they own.
There is one electrical cable on the west side of the street that will be rerouted at that time, Timmons said.
Kampbell said she thought the poles would be removed in early July.
The city project is estimated to cost a total of $3.5 million: $2 million for sidewalk and street repair — 87 percent of which is covered by federal grants — and $1.5 million for the placement of utility lines underground, which is a cost borne entirely by the city.
Even as Timmons expressed displeasure about the delay, several people congratulated him for the work that has been done so far.
“It’s a fabulous project,” said Port Townsend Film Festival Executive Director Janette Force.
“It’s such a visual relief, even as it is now.”
________
Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.