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As a kid in Chicago I never saw telephone lines in the street with light fixtures attached to them; it was all independent lampposts in the city and (most of?) the inner suburbs. Utility-pole street lamps are quite common here in Seattle, though, and in a lot of other cities I've been to.
To me, this is a reason that it's hard to find other cities that really feel like Chicago --- although (parts of) Milwaukee and Detroit are the closest thing I've found, and aside from the architecture styles and street plans, the absence of telephone lines running down residential streets is a major reason for that.
Impressionistically, I associate utility-pole street lamps with (1) rural and suburban areas, (2) more working-class areas, and (3) parts of the country other than the Mountain West and Southwest. Is this true in your experience? Am I way off-base and just looking for patterns in random noise? What factors determine what kind of lighting a city will use?
Last edited by TheTimidBlueBars; 10-20-2019 at 11:15 PM..
I am sure that in many cities it depends on whether utility lines are located on the street side or easement in the back of the properties, whether the streets are major/minor from a traffic standpoint (lamp posts versus taller canopy style lights), or attached to utility poles. Examples below:
I never really noticed in Los Angeles. Los Angeles has so many street light types within the same street. Fancy ones that maybe used oil lamps in the past. Tall metal ones. And on ultility poles. So here are some examples in LA City.
But found examples of 2 styles on the same street. But the most common one, based on just random street looking, are the standalone metal ones rather than the utility poles. Im guessing that the city replaced them over modern decades but I dont know the history. https://goo.gl/maps/wbAqmfhFioQ1vmFf8 https://goo.gl/maps/zVATDgdnYZqoJN8s7 https://goo.gl/maps/Uz7X6U8eSHFWRkJv5
I noticed that when I moved to Chicago and it was refreshing, that you don't see power lines or utility lines/poles as you go through the city, everything is hidden away in the alleys. It makes the street feel a lot cleaner and more stately.
In downtown Baltimore, the power lines are buried and the streetlights are mounted on their own poles. This is also true in my suburban neighborhood. However, on the main arterial road just outside my neighborhood, power lines and streetlights are both supported by utility poles.
NYC even has traffic lights mounted from utility poles in some areas. It uses a different design from the usual one
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