Brookland residents ask for underground utility lines
About a 100 residents marched along the area's main strip on 12th Street recently, demanding the city divert $10.5 million allocated for a streetscape improvement project toward burying utility lines.
Residents say trees in the area are cut in odd ways to make room for the aboveground wires. They say the disfigured trees are eyesores and fail to provide shade, creating a lack of vibrancy.
Pepco officials say they must prune trees to power homes and businesses. They say converting to underground cables can cost up to $8 million a mile, or six to 10 times the cost of aboveground wiring.
The District Department of Transportation says the money already budgeted for the improvement project will upgrade sidewalks, curbs and other infrastructure — but not bury electrical wires.
Related News
Cost, safety drive line-burying decisions at Tucson Electric Power
TUCSON - Though wildfires in California caused by power lines have prompted calls for more underground lines, Tucson Electric Power Co. plans to keep to its policy of burying lines selectively for safety.
Like many other utilities, TEP typically doesn’t install its long-range, high-voltage transmission lines and distribution equipment underground because of higher costs that would be passed on to ratepayers, TEP spokesman Joe Barrios said.
But the company will sometimes bury lower-voltage lines and equipment where it is cost-effective or needed for safety, or if customers or developers are willing to pay the higher installation costs
Underground installations generally include additional engineering…
