Tucked behind restaurants, art galleries and other businesses between Cleveland and Railroad Avenues in Loveland, Painter’s Alley is a charming, one-block alleyway that connects pedestrians to the vibrant downtown scene.

One blustery day in March 14, 2025, the alley was especially buzzing—not from a live event but something more shocking. Around 2 p.m., City of Loveland Utilities got an emergency call. High winds had blown down an electrical utility line in the alley, and the live wire was arcing blue with high-voltage power. The power crew had the immediate situation under control within the hour, but the event catalyzed the team to expedite a bigger plan of action.

Moving power underground 

Throughout much of the United States, utility poles are a common sight on the landscape. Loveland is unique because 87% of its electric power infrastructure is underground—an achievement that only a small number of cities across the U.S. can claim. Painter’s Alley is among the few remaining areas in the city where utilities are overhead. That’s about to change. 

In April 2026, the City will begin removing the power lines above the alley and relocating them underground--a plan years in the making to address aging infrastructure and safety conditions. The project is part of a city-wide effort to maximize safety and reliability, and minimize outages caused by high winds, severe weather and other threats such as wildfire. Remember those winter storms that brought outages for much of the country? Loveland fared well by comparison, thanks to our underground power. 

“The transition to underground power has significantly improved the safety and reliability of our systems so that our customers can continue to get the power they depend on every day without interruption,” said Electric Distribution Project Engineering Supervisor Gina Juarez with City of Loveland Utilities. Juarez serves as project manager for the Painter’s Alley project.

Painter’s Alley has ten utility poles and sixteen transformers—devices that transfer electrical energy from one circuit to another, typically decreasing voltage into safer levels for use in homes and businesses. That much power adds up. So does the space to contain it. The challenge for the team was to design a way to feed multiple services using fewer transformers in a limited space.

Electric Metering Operations Manager Matt Sadar helped Juarez and team conceive what that footprint could look like. “Finding a way to feed our commercial customers utilizing new underground infrastructure in an area with little space has involved thinking outside the box to find the right solutions,” said Sadar.

For Painter’s Alley, Sadar and team will adapt a novel approach they used for other downtown areas, including 4th Street and the Foundry, where high-voltage power lines were buried in the ground and routed to an underground vault that receives the electric current. The vault connects to two secondary cabinets above it that function as transformers. (Graphic inset shows projected placement of the cabinets, located on the easement in the middle of the alley.) This hybrid installation is unique from totally underground power systems, and brings added advantages for safety, maintenance and resiliency. 

Working with business owners and the Downtown Development Authority in coordination with the Heart Improvement Plan, the team refined their plan for the alley and obtained a 553 square foot easement for the infrastructure. A custom 7 by 14 ft. vault—to be placed underground by a crane, together with the secondary connection cabinets above it—will serve the businesses. Instead of 16 transformers and 10 utility poles spread throughout the alley and obscuring the sky overhead—this new system will feature just two transformers capable of converting and providing electricity for the entire square block of Painter’s Alley.

“By utilizing a secondary connection cabinet system, we expand the ability to feed more power to customers but with fewer transformers,” Sadar said. “It saves space, is easier to maintain, gives a cleaner, more aesthetically-pleasing look for downtown, and is more cost effective.”

Juarez added, “This type of design also gives customers a more cost-effective solution if they want to upgrade their electric service in the future.”

Stay alert to detour signage to safely navigate the area during construction. For more information about this project, visit our Let’s Talk Loveland website: LetsTalkLoveland.org.