Should one of Tampa's Top 10 priorities be burying the powerlines in CBD and Downtown?

I think the ENTIRE state of Florida needs to make this a priority to put all power lines underground. It's ridiculous that we live in a Hurricane prone state and have a 3rd world looking system of above ground power lines. I mean wouldn't it be more cost effective in the long run if the cheap ass power companies put the lines underground so they will almost never have to repair lines after every storm?

OMG I have e-mailed Teco and others for years on this. The cost is too much blah...Yea it might be a little more up front but studies show it would save money after a Cat 3 blows down all the lines. Also I noticed, like Orlando, Orange Cty, the lines are much neater looking, not like the jumbled cluster @@@! we have now! BTW below are not Tampa...has anyone seen the famous NYC pic of all the power lines around 1900, can't find it.


And this from TampaMike's set shows the lines in Channelside...

JBrisco said:

Definitely, What is Tampa still in the early 20th Century? Come on look at NYC.
But TECO is such an evil horrible corperation they're not gonna do it unless the city forces them to.

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And to do that we need to force the city to get on them for it. Even during a economic downturn, I believe this should happen now before it's too late.

I think the ENTIRE state of Florida needs to make this a priority to put all power lines underground. It's ridiculous that we live in a Hurricane prone state and have a 3rd world looking system of above ground power lines. I mean wouldn't it be more cost effective in the long run if the cheap ass power companies put the lines underground so they will almost never have to repair lines after every storm?

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Yea, I like the look of burried powerlines too but has it occurred to any of you what happens in a storm surge to burried powerlines and how much it may cost to go in and fix it?

smiley said:

Yea, I like the look of burried powerlines too but has it occurred to any of you what happens in a storm surge to burried powerlines and how much it may cost to go in and fix it?

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If it was done right I don't think a storm surge should affect buried power lines.

Jasonhouse said:

We still need some more highways (and conversions of a few major arterials to limited access), but they are more about filling in gaps that should have been filled in looong ago.

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Very true my friend.

I-275westcoastfl said:

I think the ENTIRE state of Florida needs to make this a priority to put all power lines underground. It's ridiculous that we live in a Hurricane prone state and have a 3rd world looking system of above ground power lines. I mean wouldn't it be more cost effective in the long run if the cheap ass power companies put the lines underground so they will almost never have to repair lines after every storm?

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Agreed. In fact, its pathetic that much of the US is like this while many parts of Europe have been burying their power lines for years now. The only above-ground power lines that you see in many parts of Europe are the large ones in the countryside.

Re: storm surge vs. costs, storm surges tend to be fairly rare occurances. Take St. Pete Beach for example there have only been 2-4 occurances since I can remember (late 1970s) where there was either a storm surge or surge/rain combo that would threaten at least part of the system. In Tampa, there have been a couple more occassions, but generally very localized (DT along the river, Bayshore from DT to Howard, and Dale Mabry in Palma Ceia). During the same period since the late 1970s, I can't count the number of times TECO and FL Power have been out fixing at least part of the system for every stronge thunderstorm in the summer. Then you throw in every bad driver/drunk driver/street racer wannabe plowing into the poles and taking them down. I'm not in a position to do a proper cost benefit analysis, but I think in the long run it would be cheaper to underground the system.