Are Austin Utility Poles Safe?? (Cameron: insurance, cars, money)

[dorpus]

I was headed to my favorite Popeye's Chicken on Cameron Rd. in East Austin. A utility pole had fallen on it and smashed it to bits.

The pole broke fairly high up, too high for a car it seemed.

I noticed many of the other utility poles in the area seemed to be in poor shape, too.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by dorpus

I was headed to my favorite Popeye's Chicken on Cameron Rd. in East Austin. A utility pole had fallen on it and smashed it to bits.

The pole broke fairly high up, too high for a car it seemed.

I noticed many of the other utility poles in the area seemed to be in poor shape, too.

I'd just say this... how many utility poles do you suppose there are in Austin? I don't know either, but certainly there are a lot. Tens of thousands certainly, possibly hundreds of thousands. And how often do you hear of something like this, where a pole just breaks? Not often, I'm thinking. Personally I can't remember the last time.

So I'm just guessing, but I don't think it's a big problem.

[owlman]

Was it a just a city light pole or a utility pole with wires running to it? I am reminded of:
City won't pay when poles crash on cars | KXAN.com

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by owlman

Was it a just a city light pole or a utility pole with wires running to it? I am reminded of:
City won't pay when poles crash on cars | KXAN.com

Interesting. The article mentions there are 200,000 light poles in the city... the kind the city has no liability for. And there are a lot more utility poles than light poles. So maybe a million utility poles?

It also indicates that around 40 light poles a year are reported falling, but presumably most of them don't damage any property, since it's a rare news story.

[Trainwreck20]

The utility that installs the utility poles has to pay a certain amount of money into a kind of escrow that is save to dispose of the poles as they fail. The escrow acct is managed by an insurance company, not the utility. I vaguely remember this from a seminar years ago, so the details are long-lost to time, and I don't recall if the escrow covers damages caused by the poles failing or not. The utility poles are damn tough, so I can't imagine that many of them fail in such a way as to cause damage. Probably more likely that they lean over or split and have to be replaced. A complete fracture has got to be very rare.

[dorpus]

Originally Posted by owlman

Was it a just a city light pole or a utility pole with wires running to it?

Utility pole.

[dorpus]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

The utility poles are damn tough, so I can't imagine that many of them fail in such a way as to cause damage. Probably more likely that they lean over or split and have to be replaced. A complete fracture has got to be very rare.

Are they that tough? They're just logs covered with a bit of tar. Many utility poles are crooked. I don't see how a dead tree could be very resistant to weathering.

[Trainwreck20]

They are a bit more than just 'covered in tar' - they are pressure treated and soaked in preservatives and anti-fungal/pesticide chemicals. They have somewhere around a 50 year lifespan, I think, so they do not last forever.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

The utility poles are damn tough, so I can't imagine that many of them fail in such a way as to cause damage. Probably more likely that they lean over or split and have to be replaced.

Yeah, it's the leaners that bother me. I've seen some leaning so far I couldn't figure out why they're still standing, especially in older parts of town.

[10scoachrick]

Originally Posted by OpenD

Yeah, it's the leaners that bother me. I've seen some leaning so far I couldn't figure out why they're still standing, especially in older parts of town.

Given the current 'climate', one should ask if they are leaning to the 'left' or to the 'right'.

Ba-ZING-a