PARADISE, CA (MPG) - Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is continuing to underground powerlines on the ridge and will be starting two major projects in April along Skyway and Pentz Road.

PG&E is hosting a community meeting where utility representatives will be on hand to explain the process and answer questions. The PG&E Undergrounding Community Meeting will be on Tuesday, March 18 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Table Mountain Masonic Lodge located on 5934 Clark Road in Paradise.

Work on Skyway will start at Wagstaff Road and Skyway and proceed north to Pentz Road. The project is expected to last until December, if weather allows.

In coordination with the Town of Paradise, significant portions of this project will be done at night to reduce traffic impacts, as well as mitigate egress concerns in case of an emergency.

Portions of the project that are performed at nighttime will occur from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. Monday night through Saturday morning and will include a road closure with access for residents within the work zone.

Portions of this project that are performed during daytime will occur weekdays from 8:30 am to as late as 7 p.m. and will include one-way traffic with delays up to 10 minutes.

Also starting in April, PG&E will be undergrounding along Pentz Road. This work will start at Skyway and proceed south to Wagstaff Road and occur during daytime from as early as 7 a.m. to as late as 7 p.m. During construction hours, the road will be closed to through traffic with access for residents within the work zone. This project is set to conclude in Feb. 2026.

For both projects, no work is planned on Sundays, major holidays or during Gold Nugget Days and Johnny Appleseed Days. Detours signage will be posted. PG&E is notifying customers in the area by letter.

PG&E is also starting work on an electric system hardening and undergrounding project the week of March 17, in the DeSabla area of Magalia.

Traffic control along Skyway will be in place between Powellton Road and Humbug Road beginning after April 15. Work will occur Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. except major holidays, with frequent one-way traffic controls with delays of up to 15 minutes.  Work is scheduled to be completed by fall of 2025.

In 2019, PG&E pledged to underground distribution power lines in the Town of Paradise and parts of Magalia. PG&E has already undergrounded about 90 percent of Paradise, about 247 miles of undergrounded power lines to date.

“We at PG&E are deeply committed to doing everything we can to prevent wildfires in the communities we serve and live in,” said Joe Wilson, Vice President of PG&E’s North Valley & Sierra Region. “Our region has been devastated by wildfires in recent years. Undergrounding work protects our communities.”

PG&E has and continues undergrounding power lines in other high-fire threat areas of Butte County and in areas as part of its commitment to underground 10,000 miles of power lines in high-fire threat areas of the company’s service area.

Burying powerlines is the most effective solution to reduce the risk of wildfire from electrical equipment, as it eliminates nearly all wildfire ignition risk from a line once it is moved underground. Undergrounding also makes power more reliable by reducing outages caused by winter storms and strong winds and, in some cases, reduces the need for safety-related power shutoffs.

The work is part of PG&E’s Community Wildfire Safety Program and is in response to California’s growing wildfire risk. Undergrounding is just one of many layers of wildfire protection that PG&E uses to reduce wildfire risk. To help keep the communities we serve safe, PG&E is also addressing trees and vegetation to ensure they are a safe distance from our powerlines, upgrading overhead lines, employing a network of weather stations and cameras to better detect extreme weather and wildfires, utilizing Enhanced Powerline Safety Settings, and more.

Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is a combined natural gas and electric utility serving more than 16 million people across 70,000 square miles in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit pge.com and pge.com/news.