Tag Archives: delay

02.12.26
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The Transmission Delay Has Been Costly

Since the pause the City has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on reviews by consultants, all of whom failed to identify a better alternative, and all of whom one way or another confirmed the need and the route. Yet Council previously has been unwilling or unable to put construction of the line back on track.  It now has another opportunity to do the right thing, and allow the construction of the line along the Nifong/Vawter School Road to move forward.

The delay has been costly to the public, and further delay will only cost us more. In addition to the consulting costs, we lost millions in sunk costs. We incurred significant costs associated with work to strengthen various points in the system some of which may not have been necessary had the line been built. And in the interim, the costs of construction have also increased. Although it is hard to quantify all of the additional costs incurred, some can be clearly captured. These include:

Sunk costs lost due to “pause”:$4,400,000
Ameren Study$    10,000
Quanta Study$    97,500
Burns & McDonnell Study *$   95,000
Siemens Study$  358,000
Black & Veatch 2025 estimates $  133,650
Increased costs of construction (line only)**$12,108,934
Total for this subset of the costs of delay$17,203,084

The pause has also raised our risk, and eroded the reliability of the system. You can read more about that in the next post.

The Nifong/Vawter School route is not only the best route from an engineering perspective, it is estimated to cost $10,592,899 less than the alternate Chapel Hill route also being considered by Council. And that is only taking into account the costs of the transmission line itself. When the costs of moving and building associated distribution is taken into account, the Nifong/Vawter School route is $21,163,959 less than the alternate route.

Let’s stop wasting our money. Build the transmission line on the Nifong/Vawter School route.

*Note that neither the Quanta nor the Burns and McDonnell studies, both of which affirmed the need for the line, were discussed by the Council at a public meeting despite the fact that public presentation to the Council was part of each contract.

** This is the difference between the current Black & Veatch estimate for the Nifong/Vawter School route of $30,108,934 and the original cost of $18,000,000 at the time bonds were issued.

02.10.26
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Will Council Choose The Right Path?

The transmission line is back before City Council, 10 years after Council issued an ill-advised “pause” on this key piece of infrastructure.  Council reviewed the issue again at its February 9, 2026 work session. Staff’s recommendation continues to be to build the line along the Nifong/Vawter School Road route.

Ten years ago when Council “paused” the transmission line, that line was on budget and on time. The project had been approved by wide margins in a 2015 election. As the City said when asking for that vote, and as remains true now, the line is needed to ensure the long term reliability of our electric service.  The City had issued bonds to raise the money to build the line, and also had raised electric rates by 3% to pay off the bonds.  

Yet just a few months later, the Council suddenly paused construction. Council did so for purely political reasons. No engineering study, no cost benefit study, and no other evidence supported the pause. Council did this because one neighborhood, unhappy with construction in their area, packed a meeting.

As will be explained in our next post, the pause has been costly. Significant time, energy, and funds were wasted over the years as Council minimized the need for the line and cast about for alternatives. Yet the need for the line is a reality that has not gone away, and the Nifong/Vawter School Road route remains the best alternative.

At its work session on February 9, 2026 the Council considered estimates for two possible routes:  A new route that would go through residential neighborhoods along Chapel Hill, and a route that would closely follow the originally proposed Nifong/Vawter School Road route, which adheres to the street right-of -way. Staff has consistently explained over the last 10 years why the Nifong/Vawter School Road is the route that best met the needs of the system now and in the future.  The newest estimates confirm that the Nifong/Vawter School Road route is also the least cost and highest value route. 

Ten years of delay hasn’t changed the reality that we need a transmission line. Lines aren’t built overnight and starting this work is overdue. Constructing line along the Nifong/Vawter School Road route costs $21,163,959 less than the alternate Chapel Hill route. Urge you council person to follow the facts, and approve the construction along the Nifong/Vawter School Road route.