PG&E’s Work on Vital San Luis Obispo Public Trail Comes Together to Meet Deadline

On Christmas Eve 2024, an urgent request came to PG&E’s Service Planning & Design team in San Luis Obispo.

San Luis Obispo County needed a design for the relocation of nearly 1,000 feet of PG&E power lines and poles along the Bob Jones Trail. And they’d need that design in two weeks — over the holidays.

Failure to meet the deadline would cost the county up to $18 million in state funding to add bike lanes to the beloved walking trail, a three-mile corridor from the city of San Luis Obispo to Avila Beach.

The team immediately recognized how the work would be part of PG&E’s commitment to its customers and to the environment.

“This is one way to demonstrate that we are invested in the communities in which we operate and live,” said PG&E Land Agent Mike Galvan. “We’re excited that we could help serve the community by providing a source of recreation and, more importantly, an alternative mode of transportation that will serve the planet.”

Despite the holiday time crunch, PG&E’s team met the design deadline and earned kudos from county officials for their work.

Here’s how.

‘A sense of pride’

To qualify for its state grant, the county would need project details including total estimated cost, a construction sketch and number of construction hours required to move the line. PG&E’s Land department would need to complete draft easements and a joint utility agreement with telecommunications companies that share the poles. The project also had “Buy America” status, a distinction that requires an in-depth review to ensure all materials will be made domestically.

The team had until Jan. 6 — six business days from the county’s Dec. 24 application — to complete work that would typically take three months or more to finish, said D.J. Alspaw, a supervisor with PG&E’s External Estimating and Design team.

PG&E coworkers rolled up their sleeves and got to work. Engineer Jaime Martinez created the order quickly to allow estimator Noah Bettencourt as much time as possible to design the project. Engineer Nathen Holley also worked closely with Bettencourt, Alspaw and Justin McDonald, the county’s senior new business representative on PG&E’s Service Planning & Design team.

Bettencourt is a San Luis Obispo native who’s jogged the Bob Jones Trail dozens of times. He was eager to get started on a design to move 850 feet of power lines, six poles and two ground anchors.

“I had a sense of pride for my hometown in working on this,” he said. “It makes me happy to have even a small role in improving the trail and in bringing millions of dollars in investment to our community.”

Bettencourt would need an assist from Galvan, who was filling in for a colleague on vacation.

“We were at the mercy of each other,” Bettencourt said. “He needed information on where we were moving the equipment for easements. I needed the joint utility agreement from him before I could submit inventory to accounting for cost estimates.”

The team stayed on track through collaborative calls with stakeholders every other day. Estimators and engineers worked hand in hand for streamlined reviews. Caltrans and the county supported PG&E by escalating required permits and land rights. McDonald kept all parties looped in on every next step and reminded them to be on the lookout when an important deliverable was coming their way.

“Noah pulled out all the stops,” McDonald said. “Mike really stepped up as well. Everyone was working hard to ensure nothing slipped through the cracks. It’s a great accomplishment to get so many people on the same page working toward such a challenging goal.”

Completing a ‘near-impossible task’

On Jan. 6, the team delivered its final design and the required draft land rights and agreements to the county, enabling it to qualify for state funding.

Dawn Ortiz-Legg of the County of San Luis Obispo Board of Supervisors wrote a note of appreciation to the team.

“On behalf of San Luis Obispo County, I would like to extend our sincere gratitude to PG&E and the Central Coast Region team for their exceptional support of our county’s transportation system,” she wrote.

The team completed the work “despite the challenges of the holiday season and competing demands,” she added.

Ortiz-Legg also thanked PG&E Regional Senior Manager Jeremy Howard and Local Government Relations Representative Eric Daniels for “tackling the near-impossible task of obtaining necessary drawings and maps.”

“Thanks to the dedication of Noah Bettencourt, D.J. Alspaw and Justin McDonald, PG&E delivered the required documentation, ensuring the project stayed on track,” she added.

The county is working with the City of San Luis Obispo to sign final easements. Construction is scheduled for July and August and will take two to four weeks.