Boulder Scraps Plan to Dig Up Pearl Street Mall Before Sundance 2027
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Boulder and Xcel Energy have scaled back a plan that once threatened to dig up much of the Pearl Street Mall right before Sundance 2027. Instead of replacing an aging gas line beneath the mall, a project Xcel said would have required tearing up the pedestrian mall, the utility will retire the line and let the roughly two dozen affected buildings connect to an existing alternate line instead. Xcel has said explicitly that timing next to the festival was part of the reasoning. This is Confirmed reporting with direct Xcel quotes.
Last verified: September 18, 2026
What’s confirmed
| Detail | Status |
|---|---|
| Original plan would have converted up to 66 buildings from gas to electric, with major digging on the mall | Confirmed |
| Revised plan retires the deteriorating line and affects roughly 24 buildings, none required to electrify | Confirmed |
| Xcel explicitly cited Sundance 2027 timing as a reason to avoid tearing up the mall | Confirmed |
| Xcel building audits began March 2026, targeted to finish by the end of 2026 | Confirmed |
| Retirement approach costs less than full replacement: about $7.5 million to replace versus $3.7 to $4.5 million for electrification infrastructure | Confirmed |
| Whether the audits and line retirement finish fully before January 2027 | Pending, targeted for year end 2026 |
Boulder Reporting Lab’s account, published August 9, 2026, traces how the city’s original vision for an all-electric Pearl Street Mall shrank once the practical cost of the work became clear. Xcel Energy told the outlet that replacing the deteriorating gas line “would have required tearing up much of the pedestrian mall,” and the utility noted the timing conflict directly, pointing to the fact that Boulder is preparing to host Sundance beginning in January 2027. Rather than force building owners along the line to electrify on a deadline, Xcel will retire the old line and let anyone who wants to keep gas service connect to an alternate line already running behind the buildings.
The building count affected also shrank substantially, from an initially assumed 66 buildings connected to the aging line down to roughly 24 once Xcel completed its audits. The retirement approach avoids both the cost and the underground utility congestion in the alleyways behind Pearl Street that full replacement would have required.
Why it matters
Pearl Street Mall is the pedestrian spine of downtown Boulder and sits inside the festival’s operating footprint, the same area covered by the city’s Sundance 2027 business permit rules, which already restrict amplified sound, vending, and signage on the mall during the festival. A major utility dig on top of those restrictions would have added construction barriers, noise, and closed storefronts to a stretch of downtown that already gets busy during a normal January. Knowing the city and Xcel deliberately avoided that outcome is a small but real reassurance if you are planning to walk Pearl Street between screenings. For the parking and access rules that do still apply downtown during the festival, see our Sundance 2027 parking guide, and for how local shops are getting ready more broadly, see our roundup on how Boulder businesses are preparing for Sundance 2027.
What we’re watching
We’re watching for Xcel to confirm its building audits and line retirement work actually wrap up on schedule before the festival’s January 21 start, and for any sign the scaled-back approach still requires temporary work on the mall itself.