Unsightly Power Lines
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Does anyone know why, with the widening of N.C. 211, new power lines have not been put underground while the opportunity was there?
I am hoping that this is a long-range goal and that we will not see unsightly power lines and poles once the road widening has been completed.
I wonder if this has political undertones.
Chris Nielsen
Pinehurst
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Comments
DoubleHeroides 3 months, 2 weeks ago
I’m not real sure what the writer is talking about. What possible “political undertones” could be associated with just moving the power lines over and leaving them up? Strikes me that it is far cheaper to leave the poles up in the short and long run than it is to place them underground, any repairs would require a trencher and digging instead of a cherry picker. Further, they are just power lines, they are everywhere throughout the country, on poles in the air. I don’t see any real problem here.
At what point did Mr. Nielsen encounter a world without power poles, notice their absence and say “this world is so beautiful without them that all poles should be removed and the wiring placed underground.”
JER 3 months, 2 weeks ago
DoubleHeroides: I agree, the "political undertones" comment detracted from the subject. But I do see a problem with simply continuing to do things the way we did them in the 1800's. I agree with Mr. Nielsen regarding overhead wires and their required power poles. We should be looking at ways to keep them out of the landscape, if for no other reason than to help reduce the probability of power outages during storms.
DoubleHeroides 3 months, 2 weeks ago
That’s actually a good point, I hadn’t thought of it that way. I’ll sheepishly admit that I read this in the morning before the first cup of coffee was finished. It would be interesting to see what the overall maintenance costs are for above ground versus underground. I guess I just don’t see the visual blight part of the issue but then I don’t think I’ve been anywhere that there are people that there weren’t power poles so it may be a lack of vision on my part.
usapatriot 3 months, 2 weeks ago
leave it to the pine hurst people to complain about the dumbest things
teufelhunden 3 months, 2 weeks ago
I can understand the point of the letter except for the political part. Buried lines in my neighborhood-they do look better but I don't know the cost of such an undertaking along 211. I would think that buried lines would fair better in storms.
SoPinesNo1 3 months, 2 weeks ago
While having electric utilities underground is more visually acceptable, it is considerably more costly. Are those of you complaining willing to pay the higher electric bills? The construction costs of underground facilities are anywhere from three to ten times higher than the overhead equivalent facilities, do you want your electric bill to be three to ten times higher?
In addition, underground systems usually carry longer outages with them when the outages occur. The maintenance workers must locate the buried problem, then excavate to repair the faulty cables in order to restore power. Do any of you want longer outages?
Bflat 3 months, 2 weeks ago
With costs of electric going up, no one wants to pay any more. Anything that goes underground will cost more in the long run. Try using more solar energy and cut back on power concsumption. I'll bypass the bottleneck of the traffic circle. 211 can be avoided now by just taking Hwy 73. It's so much faster and hardly any traffic on the road at all. It's a much prettier drive through the country.
I_Pine 3 months, 2 weeks ago
Hey, I've got an idea! We can hide the power poles and lines by putting up all those billboards they now allow us. The sign companies will be able to save themselves a lot of money because they won't have to cut down so many trees that would block their messages. The trees will already be gone.
RadioNC 3 months, 2 weeks ago
The problem with a monopoly is they don't have to care about what you think, and can get away with doing it their way. The fact is, they make tremendous profits fixing the power lines every time Mother Nature knocks them down. They simply give the repair bill to the North Carolina Utilities Commission, along with a 10 percent profit, and then pass the cost on to you. We need to deregulate the distribution of power if we ever want to see a common sense approach to power distribution.
RadioNC 3 months, 2 weeks ago
The latest studies show that the cost of installing underground power is 2.82 percent higher than installing overhead power. However, power outages and repairs for underground lines are 99 percent less than overhead lines. They keep the overhead lines for one reason, MONEY. Repairs of overhead lines are a big part of the profit picture for the power company.
DaveyNC 3 months, 2 weeks ago
It is a well-known goal of the Trilateral Commission, the Bilderbergers, the Freemasons, the UN, the Rockefellers and any one who doesn't support Ron Paul to leave the power lines above ground.
dustyrhoades 3 months, 2 weeks ago
Whenever the question is "why do they" or "why don't they" the answer is usually "money."
irishchamp 3 months, 2 weeks ago
RadioNC, thank you for your insight. I had no idea that my comment would create such an uproar. This was NOT a COMPLAINT. It was an observation since I commute on 211 every day and watch, with interest, the progress being made. To compare power lines to billboards is a bit extreme. The only reason I brought it up was because there was a lot of earthmoving going on as part of the widening project and it seemed like a sensible "killing two birds with one stone..." sort of logic.
The politics were mentioned because, well, - read RadioNC's comments!! I grew up in N. Ireland where everything was above ground so I am well aware of what power lines look like! However, most communities in Pinehurst have them buried which seems to me a better way to deal with ice storms, high winds, traffic accidents, hurricanes and any other dangerous conditions. Incidentally, I am a "Mrs" not a "Mr"!! Thanks for hearing my side of the story.