What a view of all the POWER lines!

[Nomanizan]

Does anyone know if there is talk of the city or Duke Power burying uptown

[Sabaidee]

Urgh I hate power lines, in the renderings of all of Uptown projects show no power lines, but in reality there are! Same thing with Atlanta, but we are fortunate not to have high capacity electric wires hanging from electric towers to towers going through downtown.

[peaceloveunderstanding]

when things settle down I am sure there will be a demand for them to go. Then they will be buried.

[monsoon]

Not going to happen. Nobody wants to pay for it.

Ask a property owner, "do you want your power lines buried?" - "Yes! Of Course!"

Ask a propery owner, "do you want to pay $4000 to have it done?" - "Nevermind".

This would be a double whammy too. Even if the mains were buried, you would have to reconstruct the electrical service box on each property from overhead to below ground service. Forgetting the usual $2-$3K to have this done, most of the houses in these areas are far below current building codes and would have to be brought up to code to pass building inspection. The cost of this could be extremely high on the property owners considering the antiquated wiring in a lot of these neighborhoods.

[peaceloveunderstanding]

maybe duke could do some good pr and do it themselves, a mandate could also do the same thing. But it probably won't happen.

[dubone]

It is certainly "not going to happen" as a rule across the city, but they have certainly been doing it uptown as they get the opportunity. uptown's power lines will eventuall ALL be buried or at least most, but we just may have to wait until all the blocks uptown are developed. They buried them in first ward's garden district as it got built out, and just a few months ago, they buried the utility wires along 11th street behind tivoli.

I noticed yesterday that they were working on burying them on caldwell across the street from courtside. they have also been doing quite a bit of utility work along Davidson and 6th street behind courtside, too.

They aren't about to bury them next to vacant lots...but as activity happens and projects are built, they have been burying the lines.

I still wish there was a permanent funding structure set up to do it, where the cost could be shared across a larger group of ratepayers. there are so many times where construction is being done, and if there was simply some funding in place to just do the utility wires at the same time, they could be buried for so much less. Often Duke quotes this massive number for how much it would cost to bury them all, and so it stops the idea in its tracks.... but that cost assumes they'd have to dig to bury them all at once. It would be so much cheaper if simply coordinated with other construction activities and development as they occur. It is such a huge shame when they build a brand new building (like latta pavilion), and the ugly mess of utility poles are just sitting there forever when if some small amount of funding was in place they could have been buried.

[monsoon]

Duke will never pay to rewire people's homes in order to make it possible for them to connect to the new power lines.

[dubone]

i also just noticed that they are taking these utility lines down now on 5th by the old bell south switching bldg. they have many of the lines down already.

[Sabaidee]

that's good because that's right near the Arena and the power lines would just be unbearable. Damn that building looks so dead though, so lifeless, now that's something I wouldn't mind Charlotte tearing down.

[dubone]

a common sentiment...

i think if they could plant some trees along 5th there, it would be a lot better there (perhaps that is what they will do after they take down the lines).

[monsoon]

Most of Charlotte's voice communications go through that building. It will probably be there for a long time. A monument to the old Bell System.

[Sabaidee]

So who telecommunication company actually has control over it now? Whoever it is, they need to upgrade their network and move it. I hate AT&T and the old Bell system, I was an intern for AT&T and they are so scheming.

[Mobuchu]

Yeah, all the lines behind Imaginon were finished taken down about a week or 2 ago. All lines arournd Davidson, 5th, 6th and trade will be down, just depends on how long each utility takes. Elizabeth St will no longer have any poles, possibly lines along McDowell too. As I posted on another thread, this takes hundreds of thousands of dollars to take down all lines for just a block or two. The lines on Cedar st behind the panthers practice field was split between the Panthers and J&W University. I wonder who is paying for all the poles coming down in first and second ward? I'll post that when I find out.

[monsoon]

The building is still owned jointly between AT&T and whats known now as BellSouth. Some kind of condo arrangement I have been told. Other companies have equipment in there too due to equal access. If VoIP and other alternatives continued to eat into POTS business, the relevance of these old central office buildings will continue to decline.

[dubone]

Yeah, all the lines behind Imaginon were finished taken down about a week or 2 ago.  All lines arournd Davidson, 5th, 6th and trade will be down, just depends on how long each utility takes.  Elizabeth St will no longer have any poles, possibly lines along McDowell too.  As I posted on another thread, this takes hundreds of thousands of dollars to take down all lines for just a block or two.  The lines on Cedar st behind the panthers practice field was split between the Panthers and J&W University.  I wonder who is paying for all the poles coming down in first and second ward?  I'll post that when I find out.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

thanks for the info mobuchu.

i'm sure this utility project has something to do with the arena and courtside. I'm guessing it is just the city paying for it, but i'd be interested to know.

having the utility lines down makes a huge difference in the attractiveness of an area.

[Miesian Corners]

There used to be a gentlemen's agreement that when a block was developed uptown, Duke and BellSouth would bury the lines. Now that the old guard is gone, you see what has happened. There were no funds allocated for utility removal for ImaginOn on the 6th or Brevard sides of the building. One of the reasons they are going underground is because I embarassed certain politicians publically (the mayor) over the SNAFU. The arena got everything, the kids got nothing. It worked, but I had to write every city council member, Duke, BellSouth, and TimeWarner. Still, Duke and the city have balked at putting mast arm traffic signals at the intersection of 6th and Brevard. Last I was told, the traffic signals would still be on wires strung from wood poles. Oh yeah, we're world class!

What really irks me is that LRT construction is a great way to get South Blvd lines underground. Not gonna happen. Relocation is another option (when lines are put behind buildings on a right of way), but wasn't considered. Relocation still costs money, but no new connections have to be installed on buildings, just the wires from the buildings to the poles.

After the ice storm several years ago, Charlotteans said they would gladly pay an extra $5-10 per month to Duke to bury lines on major thouroghfares. We see what happened. We also need to realize that our Mayor is employed (for what, no one knows) at Duke Energy. They pay him a 6-figure salary to never set foot in the Church St headquarters, but do their bidding on 4th Street instead.

[SmellyCat]

Good work M.C.!

[dubone]

argh... why aren't they doing more with south boulevard as part of SCIP? Is it possible that they do them incrementally as redevelopment occurs along south boulevard, or is it hopeless?

The biggest problem with the utilities on south blvd is not just aesthetics, but that the poles are inches from the street, so you constantly have the feeling that you are just barely missing them as you drive by.

[Miesian Corners]

CATS told me that utilities would be "cleaned up" along the construction route. Basically, they will do what they did on South Blvd through Dilworth: put them all on one side of the street (east) on taller poles. This will be done only to the section from New Bern/Marsh to Old Pineville/Scaleybark.

If Lowe's is given the green (DCDA isn't going to support the rezoning), utilities will go underground along South in front of the store.

[Sabaidee]

But aren't they burying some utilties though? Found this article

http://www.cegltd.com/story.asp?story=5647

[citywide_clt]

Interestingly, the City of Salisbury has addressed utility poles as a huge aesthetic problem in its 2020 plan. Some of you might find the information on this page to be relevant since it deals with Duke Power and talks with the city.

Some major adopted polices by Salisbury include:

Policy U-1: The City shall maintain a master plan for the undergrounding of utilities, with priority given to pre-determined areas.

Policy U-2: Major city entrances and gateway corridors shall receive first priority for the undergrounding of overhead utilities.

I would say as this relates to Charlotte, South Blvd is a major gateway not only for rail passengers but vehicles and pedestrians as well.

You can read the entire plan at this site. Scroll down to the middle for utility issues.

Salisbury Appearance Plan

[dubone]

welcome to the forum, and thanks for the info. Charlotte should definitely adopt a plan like that.

It seems that there a few corridors like South Blvd, East Boulevard, almost all of downtown, and a number of others that definitely need utility burial in order to look better. That is especially true if there are trees nearby that get hacked to pieces every year, like on 7th Street through Elizabeth.

[Miesian Corners]

It seems that there a few corridors like South Blvd, East Boulevard, almost all of downtown, and a number of others that definitely need utility burial in order to look better.  That is especially true if there are trees nearby that get hacked to pieces every year, like on 7th Street through Elizabeth.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You'd at least hope they'd do all of the gateways to uptown. Nothing like exiting off I-77 at W Trade and being welcomed to uptown Charlotte (at Gateway Center) by scraggly Bradford Pears planted underneath telephone poles.

There's a Willow Oak on South Tryon in Wilmore (just north of West Blvd) that has it's entire insides cut out for lines to go through. Just cut the poor guy down and be done with it.

[citywide_clt]

Since I have to travel down Independence Blvd to travel to and from work, I always get ill when I see the mass of poles along the corridor. That mixed with empty box stores really is an eyesore for such a heavily travelled road, not to mention they want to shortchange the Independence Blvd. transit corridor and run buses out to Monroe. One hope for Ind. would be light rail perhaps forcing the lines underground.

[monsoon]

I would not hold your breath. I don't think any of us are going to see a LRT line down Independence in the next couple of decades.