Overhead Power Lines

[trainrover]

Café wasn't always spelled like that there, although I just noticed yesterday a corner caf in central Derby(?) caught on 1950s reel featuring trolley busses did have the accent on its large signage

[Manila-X]

Better having overhead power lines than not having electricity at all.

[Positronn]

Any spanishes here?
Does this count as overhead lines?
http://goo.gl/maps/Cs0HJ

http://goo.gl/maps/QDGmk

http://goo.gl/maps/9WMhZ

And another question: are these lines just low voltage power lines or telephone too? Are the transformers all buried?

[VECTROTALENZIS]

no, don't count

[fieldsofdreams]

Well, I found these in San Francisco:

At 19th Avenue & Kirkham Street:


At 19th Avenue & Noriega Street:


Interestingly, power poles do not run along 19th Avenue for most of the way, especially that it is a major corridor in the City.

Here's from Richmond:


Plus, here's one in San Rafael, with four power lines running close to each other:

[Manila-X]

North American cities have mostly use overhead power lines but it's downtown core is underground.

[fieldsofdreams]

Originally Posted by Manila-X

North American cities have mostly use overhead power lines but it's downtown core is underground.

Sure, but there are other towns (especially the older ones) that still preserve the overhead power lines. Underground utilities were a relatively recent trend to cut down unsightly things on downtown streets

[George W. Bush]

Originally Posted by ukiyo

I don't think it's 95% in Tokyo lol, actually due to the massive street tree planting they are burying many cables and by 2016 or so only 14% of roads in central Tokyo won't have underground cables. In residential areas they're still quite common and in especially Osaka.

Well, I blindly trusted Wikipedia. It might be true or not.

Most electrical power in Japan is still provided by aerial cables. In Tokyo's 23 wards, according to Japan's Construction and Transport Ministry, just 7.3 percent of cables were laid underground as of March 2005.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undergrounding#Japan

[ukiyo]

^ Well it is true!...but for 2005 . In 2006 the government put out the "10 year project for green Tokyo" and by 2016, 86% of overhead lines will be burried...but I am not sure if this counts residential areas, if not it still will be much higher than 7.3%...probably around 50%.

Check this post I made 2 years ago: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpo...5&postcount=12

They use to have a PDF from the 2006 document showing maps of what areas poles are being removed entirely...but they deleted since there is a new document (2011) and unfortunately they haven't made a new one.

[ukiyo]

BTW here is a video I took riding bicycle through Tokyo neighborhoods this January, you can see the wires

[mrfusion]

[George W. Bush]

Originally Posted by ukiyo

In 2006 the government put out the "10 year project for green Tokyo" and by 2016, 86% of overhead lines will be burried...but I am not sure if this counts residential areas, if not it still will be much higher than 7.3%...probably around 50%.

This sounds very ambicious (considering the narrow time frame) and extremely costly. I would expect costs of at least 10 billion dollars.

[ukiyo]

^ I don't know how much it costs but if you clicked the link you would see there's much more than simply burrying poles. Tokyo has an economy of over $1 trillion by itself though so I am sure the metropolitan government has plenty of revenue to do a 10 year program like this (and they do since they're doing it lol).I actually have some pictures from this august of some roads where poles have been removed and there's newly planted trees...still have to upload those thousands of pictures though.

[fieldsofdreams]

Originally Posted by ukiyo

^ I don't know how much it costs but if you clicked the link you would see there's much more than simply burrying poles. Tokyo has an economy of over $1 trillion by itself though so I am sure the metropolitan government has plenty of revenue to do a 10 year program like this (and they do since they're doing it lol).I actually have some pictures from this august of some roads where poles have been removed and there's newly planted trees...still have to upload those thousands of pictures though.

That's a very good sign indeed. No wonder Tokyo could continue to build underground passages, rail connections... I remember that after building the Fukutoshin line, Tokyo Metro and Toei will not build any new subway lines. But, it would also reconsider expanding existing lines eastward. Would that mean that underground utilities would be made when such construction happens in the future?

[ukiyo]

BTW I found the cost of it (this is the new plan lasting 2012-2020). The total budget is 2.2 trillion yen which is around $26 billion (22 billion using real exchange rate). You can see all the plans of the project here: http://www.metro.tokyo.jp/ENGLISH/PLAN/index.htm

Originally Posted by fieldsofdreams

That's a very good sign indeed. No wonder Tokyo could continue to build underground passages, rail connections... I remember that after building the Fukutoshin line, Tokyo Metro and Toei will not build any new subway lines. But, it would also reconsider expanding existing lines eastward. Would that mean that underground utilities would be made when such construction happens in the future?

Yeah probably. Mostly the subway operators are focusing on through services. There is no need to make more lines (here is a picture of a map of most of the rail in Tokyo http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/8...yosuburban.jpg) when they could just use the other companies lines. Actually there's some movements on subway lines, one of the most ambitious lines (in years anyway) is currently in the planning stage and may go U/C soon, check it out: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nb20120217a2.html

Quashlo has a more in depth post on it: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpo...&postcount=149

Also they will make a new station on the yamanote line, the first in 40 years.

[ukiyo]

Some figures from 2012

無電柱化が着実に進捗
・都道の地中化率が 32%(延べ 755 ㎞)に向上
・区市町村道の無電柱化に対し、財政支援等を実施

^ 755 km of overhead lines will be burried in Tokyo Metropolis..bringing the rate of underground power lines to 32%. Keep in mind this is the entire metropolis including semi rural areas...so I'd imagine the 23 wards would be 50%+.

Source: http://www.metro.tokyo.jp/INET/KEIKA...A/70lcm147.pdf

[fieldsofdreams]

Now that's definitely something worth talking about. Will that subway bypass also include an extension to Tokyo Station as well? I've heard that Tsukuba Express and other operators are considering an extension of a heavily-used rail line into Tokyo Station to ease congestion at Ueno and Asakusa Stations... I wonder if that is still the case? Plus, it's a wise idea that Tokyo Metro and Toei interline their services to private rail and JR lines because they allow even more commuters to travel between central Tokyo and the outlying areas.

[ukiyo]

Originally Posted by fieldsofdreams

Now that's definitely something worth talking about. Will that subway bypass also include an extension to Tokyo Station as well?

If you looked at Quashlo's post it says there's a direct connection to Tokyo station.

I've heard that Tsukuba Express and other operators are considering an extension of a heavily-used rail line into Tokyo Station to ease congestion at Ueno and Asakusa Stations... I wonder if that is still the case? Plus, it's a wise idea that Tokyo Metro and Toei interline their services to private rail and JR lines because they allow even more commuters to travel between central Tokyo and the outlying areas.

To be honest I am not an expert on Tokyo rail, but we have a few in the Japan forum. Can you ask your question here please? http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showth...401222&page=36

[RawLee]

Most of my city downtown looks something like this:



Where there are railroads, this is the normal:



My street (and most of the village-like suburbs) are like this:



But in most cases the city looks like this:

[Wapper]

I don't mind those overground wires in some places, but in others I do. I really like the narrow and very urban east Asian streets with the wires, but I think they look out of place in spacious American-like suburbs. In historical city centres, they should be underground, especially when you want to attract tourists.