Howard Street's Asphalt Is Almost Down. The Poles Aren't Going Anywhere Yet.
The final hardscape push starts next week, but AT&T controls when those poles finally come out.
Howard Street is in its last stretch of construction, and has been since late August, according to the Watauga Democrat. Downtown Boone Development Association Executive Director Lane Moody told left917 next week brings the biggest hardscape push yet, with the final layer of asphalt to follow.
The overhead poles aren't budging just yet. Multiple utility companies still have to move their lines underground into the project's duct bank, each on its own schedule, since the town doesn't have contracts with all of them, before any poles come out. Moody says most of the poles along Howard belong to AT&T specifically, though the town's own public updates haven't named a single company.
The project is fully funded at more than $13 million, a $9 million USDA loan, nearly $4 million from the Tourism Development Authority, and a $300,000 Appalachian Regional Commission grant. Construction broke ground in April 2025.
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