Xcel begins burying Boulder’s North 75th Street powerline as wildfire mitigation expands 8%
By Por Jaijongkit10%
8/2/2026, 1:10:12 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 14 faulty reasoning types, including Recency Bias, Biased Writer Voice, and Self-Serving Bias, with Optimism Bias as the most egregious example at 13.3% saturation with 45 hits. Analysis detected 313 faulty-reasoning hits from 338 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 18.2% and a BS Rank of 8% (25,680 of 27,738 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 92.60% of the article peer group.
Xcel Energy has begun undergrounding a powerline along North 75th Street as part of its wildfire mitigation program, with construction expected through the summer and more undergrounding projects planned elsewhere in the Boulder area later this year.
The 1.7-mile project between Windhover Lane and Lookout Road is part of Xcel’s Wildfire Mitigation Plan, which aims to reduce the risk of utility-caused wildfires and public safety power shutoffs.
The underground line will also help maintain power to one of Boulder’s wastewater treatment plants during future shutoffs.
During the city’s first public safety power shutoff in 2024, the plant nearly spilled sewage into Boulder Creek .
Crews are installing the line using a combination of boring and open trenching because existing underground utilities leave little room beneath the roadway.
Once the underground line is complete, the existing overhead poles and wires will be removed.
The project is expected to take three to six months .
Drivers, cyclists and pedestrians should expect traffic control, lane and sidewalk closures, temporary access changes and construction noise throughout the project.
Two additional undergrounding projects are expected to begin by the end of the year: one covering about five miles north of Boulder near Altona and another spanning roughly 10 miles in South Boulder, according to materials Xcel shared with reporters.
Statewide, the utility plans to underground about 50 miles of powerlines.
Robert Kenney, president of Xcel Energy Colorado, said the projects are intended to improve both public safety and electric system reliability, though permitting requirements could delay construction.
Kenney said undergrounding is only one part of the company’s wildfire mitigation strategy.
Xcel is also trimming vegetation, installing covered powerlines and strengthening utility poles in areas where burying lines is not practical.
“[Undergrounding] is not the panacea people think it to be,” he said.
“That’s why we have a comprehensive plan.”
The post Xcel begins burying Boulder’s North 75th Street powerline as wildfire mitigation expands appeared first on The Boulder Reporting Lab .
Speakers
2speakers24%attributed speech257writer words
Selected voice
100%flagged-word coverageRobert Kenney
59 attributed words73% of attributed speech61% writer coverage
Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.
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