Currently many of our utilities are located under the sidewalks. This creates streetscape limitations primarily in via the inability to locate trees in certain key locations, but is also fiscally irresponsible in the long term because it increases the cost and commercial disruption due to maintenance over time.

This is a particular problem in Downtown Phoenix where land utilization is important and where we need to be creating the most OPTIMAL streetscapes in terms of pedestrian mobility and comfort (read: shade).

So whenever there is an expedient opportunity (e.g. a streetscape project is undertaken, or an adjacent development is happening), the City needs to relocate those utilities from the sidewalk to the road, which is also in line with how other large cities operate.