Power Lines Seem to be Everywhere (Houston, Austin: high school, taxes, price)

[Idlewile]

Originally Posted by owlman

Yep, it sure would look nicer with them buried (and more newly developed neighborhoods do), but don't pretty much all cities have them? You don't have any overhead power lines in Pensacola?

No, city centers generally do but farther out in newer cities and in surrounding suburbs they are buried. It's all in what you're used to -- where you've lived previously -- if you notice them or not. The front range area around Denver have the majority of them buried. MUCH more aesthetically pleasing, of course, but not always possible.

I was sort of surprised to see them all over in Austin.

[MedicalPartisan]

Originally Posted by unihills

12th and Chicon intersection, White Swan bar is definitely Austin. Not sure why you would think this is San Marcos.

I previously had these pictures embedded in my OP.

[CarnivalGal]

Again, those pictures are of San Marcos, not Austin. However, I do agree with you . This area has a lot more noticeable power lines than a lot of other places. Sure, every place has them, but we do seem to have a lot. And I have heard other newcomers mention it as well. I think part if it is that we tend to not bury them. Also, we don't have very tall trees that hide them. There is also the tendency to string them across intersections and hang traffic lights from them. A lot of other places use poles, which I must say I find much more attractive. Austin seems to go for the cheapest way to handle power line rather than the most aesthetically pleasing. Ironic seeing as the city tends to spend a lot of money on "art" to beautify roads littered with power lines. Case in point - the blue panels along Lamar Blvd.

[atler8]

I agree that the aboveground power lines are an ugly intrusion on the panorama wherever they are so Austin has certainly not cornered the market with their prescence.
By the way, someone commented earlier about D.C. and the cost to bury their lines. I thought that this had already been done in that city. Way back in the 1990's I noticed a relative dearth of power lines there so I assumed that the entire district was without them both as a matter of aethetics & security. What I saw there was certainly the largest line free zone in a major city to that date.

[Trainwreck20]

Here is one article. I had found a report that included a lot more info, maybe you can daisy chain the links to find it...

D.C., Pepco could spend billions to bury power lines | WashingtonExaminer.com

[ETex2]

Odd that the OP showed a pic of an older part of the city, where the streets are narrow (difficult and quite costly to relocate utilities underground). The original pic is definitely in Austin. But overhead power lines at intersections in older parts of a city are quite common and not unique to Austin at all.

[MedicalPartisan]

It's not like I'm trying to slander the city. I've just noticed how prominent they are and searched for pictures of Austin and chose one that illustrated my topic.

[CptnRn]

Isn't that a photo of San Marcos? The name on the water tower is Texas State University. Which is in San Marcos.

I suspect you are noticing lots of powerlines because you are new here and paying a lot of attention to new things you are seeing. It has been my experience that almost cities have lots of overhead powerlines in them. When you go into the newer subdivisions in Austin most of the powerlines are buried and not above ground.

Edit: Yes I'm pretty sure after looking at google maps satellite view that building with the two large columns surrounded by glass is the Albert B. Alkek Library in San Marcos. http://goo.gl/maps/YDrcy

Edit 2: Opps I see Y'all already figured that out. I was responding to an older webpage I had left open on my computer of the OP, did not see all these other comments already added to it until I posted.

P.S. the photo of the churches chicken sign, the Library and Water tower in San Marcos, those objects are about 1.5 miles apart. The telephoto lens used for the photo is compressing the images and making them look much closer together, so it is also compressing all of the powerlines and making them look like they are closer together also.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by owlman

Yep, it sure would look nicer with them buried (and more newly developed neighborhoods do), but don't pretty much all cities have them? You don't have any overhead power lines in Pensacola?

Just spot checking a handful of major streets in Pensacola using Google maps street view, they looked just like older parts of Austin in regard to the numbers of powerlines overhead. I found only one area in the historic district where it appears the powerlines have been buried.

Again, I think the OP is just noticing it because he is new here and paying more attention to what is around him. Reminds me of how shocked I was when I went back to Denver one winter after living in Austin for a few years. I was shocked at how dirty Denver looked in winter with all the dirty grey snow lining all of the streets. That was something I did not recall when I lived there, I was so used to seeing it back then that it just did not register.

[ScoPro]

Originally Posted by WDaleHerring

I previously had these pictures embedded in my OP.

In the upper left of the first one my son lived in the large dormitory when he was at Southwest Texas State (now Texas State) in San Marcos.

Ahhh, the beauty of San Francisco...