Officials from the city of Thousand Oaks, Southern California Edison Company, Verizon Telephone and Adelphia Cable will be marking the removal of the last utility pole along Moorpark Road, south of Columbia Road.

The ceremony at 9 a.m., Mon., June 20 is the culmination of more than 10 years of planning, engineering and construction work to transfer the overhead utility lines on both sides of Moorpark Road between Wilbur Road and Columbia Road to underground service. A total of 65 poles and about 4.5 miles of overhead electrical lines are being removed by the project.

“Although the project has taken a long time to accomplish, the result of having all those overhead lines removed is like night and day,” said Thousand Oaks Mayor Pro-Tem Dennis Gillette.

The project has been funded through a program established by the California Public Utilities Commission, which allows for a small surcharge to be paid by Edison customers throughout the city. The total cost for converting this 1.4-mile segment of Moorpark Road is about $4.5 million.

The current project also converted 46 residential and business utility services to underground.

The next underground project planned in Thousand Oaks will be a continuation of Moorpark Road from Columbia Road to Olsen Road, which isn’t anticipated to start for eight to 10 years.