Lanes of Peachtree Road to close for months as crews move utility poles (Atlanta: apartment, condo)

[Need4Camaro]

I'm of belief the reasons for choosing daylight hours are financial reasons, not safety reasons.

Originally Posted by DavePa

In seeing this thread and reading it. Not knowing all details of course.

It's REDICULOUS not to place the wires underground. No city wants these ugly blemishes to boast rising stature.

I ABHORE seeing poles in vibrant areas and fronts of residences. Newer construction keeping them in fronts..... is stupid. Spend the extra cost and DO IT AESTHETICALLY MORE PLEASING as a end result... U N D E R G R O U N D. Doesn't matter where a UGLY POLE is placed on a sidewalk. IT'S A BLEMISH to PUT NEW ONES IN FOR THIS LONG PROJECT.

Just my opinion as I HATE again, seeing these poles in newer areas especially.

I'm also of belief that it would be infeasible or impractical to bury every electrical cable in the metro. They would have to be shielded (costs ALOT more than insulated overhead wires)

Originally Posted by jsvh

Yep. So stupid.



That "correction space" is where pedestrians are supposed to be. We are literally designing streets so drivers will be safe if they drive up the sidewalk into a crowd of pedestrians. The efforts to protect drivers first goes so far as to protect them while they are running down pedestrians. Any wonder roads designed like this don't feel comfortable to walk down?

I would also like to state that if you're inferring that the utility poles should be a buffer to protect pedestrians... you may want to rethink that. You definitely don't want to be near one if it randomly struck by a car (which is quite capable of toppling them over) if any of those cables even so much as lands NEAR you ... you're toast. There will be no warning, no initial shock, just one moment everything is fine and the next you're a ghost. Wouldn't even have time to think about it. They are carrying over 13,000 Volts and if you're anywhere near their path... ...charcoal... that's all that's left of you

[ColoGuy]

Originally Posted by MattCW

Idiots, they're lying, they can do it at night. Lighting has only been around for about a hundred years.

About 150 years really.

[DavePa]

Originally Posted by Need4Camaro

I'm also of belief that it would be infeasible or impractical to bury every electrical cable in the metro. They would have to be shielded (costs ALOT more than insulated overhead wires)

I'm only referring to this project in scope. Not any city's whole metro. But I've see new developments in Houston's re-building denser inner-Loop area around its core. Have developers basically remove the old bungalows and ranch-homes there on larger lots. For all the new especially, multi-residential housing. Many times KEEP the ugly poles in fronts if very nice infill.

I say .... these with the pole and even transformers. Better be much cheaper.

Just some Houston examples I saved.

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.8089...7i13312!8i6656.

Here each street view even EACH YEAR. Has the garbage big bins left along the street. WITH THE POLES .... WHY .... all was brand new.

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.8077...7i13312!8i6656

Further down.

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.8077...7i13312!8i6656

These developers doing whole blocks. Clearly could have. Yes, a bit f added CST to the buyer. BUT OH SO BETTER AESTHETICS. Again, better be considerably cheaper? Then these new blocks without them. I used Houston as less feathers to ruffle.

Even olé Chicago has them in alleys as a great option. Its finl growth city-proper.... went underground with no alleys. Its suburbs. By far most are underground. Further out more away from being suburbs again.

[Need4Camaro]

Originally Posted by DavePa

I'm only referring to this project in scope. Not any city's whole metro. But I've see new developments in Houston's re-building denser inner-Loop area around its core. Have developers basically remove the old bungalows and ranch-homes there on larger lots. For all the new especially, multi-residential housing. Many times KEEP the ugly poles in fronts if very nice infill.

I say .... these with the pole and even transformers. Better be much cheaper.

Just some Houston examples I saved.

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.8089...7i13312!8i6656.

Here each street view even EACH YEAR. Has the garbage big bins left along the street. WITH THE POLES .... WHY .... all was brand new.

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.8077...7i13312!8i6656

Further down.

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.8077...7i13312!8i6656

These developers doing whole blocks. Clearly could have. Yes, a bit f added CST to the buyer. BUT OH SO BETTER AESTHETICS. Again, better be considerably cheaper? Then these new blocks without them. I used Houston as less feathers to ruffle.

Even olé Chicago has them in alleys as a great option. Its finl growth city-proper.... went underground with no alleys. Its suburbs. By far most are underground. Further out more away from being suburbs again.

I believe it would be up to the power company as to whether or not they will bury them and the projects in question didn't really given them need or reason to.
Note that buried lines carry a slew of drawbacks:

-- They cost up to 14 times that of an overhead line to implement.
-- They are much harder to maintain and can experience more down time.
- They are difficult to modify if new connections are needed.

[DavePa]

Originally Posted by Need4Camaro

I believe it would be up to the power company as to whether or not they will bury them and the projects in question didn't really given them need or reason to.
Note that buried lines carry a slew of drawbacks:

-- They cost up to 14 times that of an overhead line to implement.
-- They are much harder to maintain and can experience more down time.
- They are difficult to modify if new connections are needed.

Still, if ALL NEW and much more dense? But the topic undertaking. Is the Georgia Dept. of Transportation no? So for a main corridor. Do it right for the cost, length and scope of the undertaking. That is to NOT RETURN UGLY WOODEN OUTDATED POLES.
Far worst then street-lights still hanging from wires. It's the 21st century in a city that desires World-Class full recognition.

They have superior methods of sealing them too and probably access? More of Europe did it then us .... such irony. Did you hear of underground-wire issues when you lived in Chicagoland?

But who am I.

[Need4Camaro]

Originally Posted by DavePa

Still, if ALL NEW and much more dense? But the topic undertaking. Is the Georgia Dept. of Transportation no? So for a main corridor. Do it right for the cost, length and scope of the undertaking. That is to NOT RETURN UGLY WOODEN OUTDATED POLES.
Far worst then street-lights still hanging from wires. It's the 21st century in a city that desires World-Class full recognition.

They have superior methods of sealing them too and probably access? More of Europe did it then us .... such irony. Did you hear of underground-wire issues when you lived in Chicagoland?

But who am I.

GADOT has little to nothing to do with the cost or even the order of burying powerlines. Yeah it would look nice but on a realistic note, all of our 'world class cities' from NYC to Los Angeles have ample above ground power lines.

I'm not against burying the lines, but on a realistic note I dont think it's as clean cut and easy as you're making it sound, and it definitely is not cheap nor could I realistically see it coming to past unless it came to the point where it had to be done

I'm also unaware of Chicago's underground wiring infrastructure but one thing to note about Chicago and the presence of underground wiring is Chicago sees alot more snow and ice (which can destroy overhead power cables) . With reliability in mind (as power loss in winter of Chicago could very well lead to catastrophic results) it's easier to see why they would be more willing to invest in it versus Georgia where overhead cables aren't as much at risk.

As for traffic lights, Alot of the metro has been improving their traffic signals by installing them on masts instead of cables. Theres still several areas where they utilize cables but many metro areas have them on masts. Not all the cable traffic signals look terrible either. When coming from a place where every traffic light looks the same, our traffic signals give a distinct attitude about an area.

[samiwas1]

Originally Posted by Gulch

There are markings on the sidewalk (shown in the WSB-TV piece) indicate where each pole is going. GDOT is using a standard distance of moving the poles back 4 feet from their existing locations, and some of them would thus be moved onto the sidewalk.

Oh, okay. So, by "the middle of the sidewalk", you meant "six inches from the outside of the sidewalk", still leaving plenty of room for wheelchairs and whatnot. I don't know why they couldn't move them another foot off unless property rights prevent them. But many of them would be no more in the sidewalk than they are now. And if they are moving them from the outside in and it doesn't leave enough space, then just create a patch around, like this one on Northside.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by DavePa

I'm only referring to this project in scope. Not any city's whole metro. But I've see new developments in Houston's re-building denser inner-Loop area around its core. Have developers basically remove the old bungalows and ranch-homes there on larger lots. For all the new especially, multi-residential housing. Many times KEEP the ugly poles in fronts if very nice infill.

I say .... these with the pole and even transformers. Better be much cheaper.

Just some Houston examples I saved.

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.8089...7i13312!8i6656.

Here each street view even EACH YEAR. Has the garbage big bins left along the street. WITH THE POLES .... WHY .... all was brand new.

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.8077...7i13312!8i6656

Further down.

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.8077...7i13312!8i6656

These developers doing whole blocks. Clearly could have. Yes, a bit f added CST to the buyer. BUT OH SO BETTER AESTHETICS. Again, better be considerably cheaper? Then these new blocks without them. I used Houston as less feathers to ruffle.

Even olé Chicago has them in alleys as a great option. Its finl growth city-proper.... went underground with no alleys. Its suburbs. By far most are underground. Further out more away from being suburbs again.

This is inner loop Houston and there's no curb, gutter, and stormwater system? Missing those things, Houston has a lot more issues than overhead utilities to deal with.

[jsvh]

Originally Posted by Need4Camaro

I would also like to state that if you're inferring that the utility poles should be a buffer to protect pedestrians... you may want to rethink that. You definitely don't want to be near one if it randomly struck by a car (which is quite capable of toppling them over) if any of those cables even so much as lands NEAR you ... you're toast. There will be no warning, no initial shock, just one moment everything is fine and the next you're a ghost. Wouldn't even have time to think about it. They are carrying over 13,000 Volts and if you're anywhere near their path... ...charcoal... that's all that's left of you

I am inferring that we should not be disrupting Peachtree St & spending millions of dollars babying drivers who are running off the road into the sidewalk. Fix the money to fix the street and slow the cars and make it safer for everyone. Don't spend millions to move utility poles and to treat pedestrians as a "recovery zone" to be run down.

[ATLTJL]

I understand burying power lines is expensive and not easy. I understand it's difficult to retrofit areas that are already well developed versus areas that are in the first stages of development. Burying power lines all across the metro would be quite expensive and difficult.

But still....this is Peachtree Road. I mean, buying power lines along the most important street in the city's most luxurious and wealthy neighborhood should be a no-brainer. They should do it in midtown, too. Is it too much to ask to at least not have those ugly lines on the main strip?

Imagine if the Las Vegas strip had overhead power lines.

The fact of the matter is, plenty of cities have figured out how to buy power lines and for whatever reason, decided it's worth it.