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I have seen construction crews digging up East Fifth Street, in several places all the way from Depot Street to Monterey Road. The work has tied up traffic for days. What is going on exactly?
The work you are referring to has indeed been going on for a couple of weeks, with crews directing traffic during that time while workers duck into freshly excavated trenches to install some kind of hardware or equipment.
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Morgan Hill Public Works Director Karl Bjarke got back to Red Phone, and informed us the project is a “cut and bore” operation by telecommunications giant AT&T.
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“This is an encroachment permit project for AT&T,” Bjarke said. “The contractor (Irish Construction) is performing a cut and bore operation to install conduit for new AT&T lines. The conduits are now in, and the trenches are scheduled to be paved by Wednesday, Feb 11. This will complete this phase of the work. AT&T crews will return at a later date to pull in new cable.”
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AT&T spokeswoman Donna Glass said the project will “expand access and connect AT&T customers in the Gilroy/Morgan Hill area,” and construction will be complete around mid-February.
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The utility company received a permit from the city to do the work in October 2014.
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Prepare yourself for even more digging and traffic holdups in downtown Morgan Hill. The city is getting ready to undertake a number of projects, starting later this month, that are sure to have ongoing impacts on travel times downtown.
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These include a three-story parking garage on Fourth Street, which is scheduled for resurfacing in June. That’s the same month that the city plans to move utility lines on downtown side streets underground.
