[geeks] adventures with electric utility companies

[Bill Bradford]

Bit of background:  Almost a month ago, we had an afternoon-long power outage
in the north part of Austin.  

During that power outage, of course, everyone is supposed to treat four-way
intersections as if they have four-way stop signs.  You can pretty much 
guarantee that some moron is going to have a wreck, and that's what 
happened - a big dually pickup truck ran into a Geo Metro.

No major injuries, but the dually ran into a power/phone utility pole that
is (stupidly) placed right at the corner of the intersection.  This broke
the wood pole, and it was pretty much hanging there from line tension and
what little wood fiber was left at the bottom.

What does Austin Energy do?  They send out one of those "buckets on a 
crane" trucks, and use it to hold the pole upright while another truck
digs a hole and erects another pole next to the old one.  When the concrete
sets, they move most of the lines over to the new pole - but instead of moving
the last set of lines over to the new pole, they leave them on the OLD pole,
and just tack/brace the old pole to the new one with a 2x4 and some bolts.

WHAT THE HELL?

I've been reminding myself to go out and take a picture for a while, and 
since the new camera arrived today, I did so.  This was taken out the 
drivers-side window of my truck while waiting at the stoplight:

http://www.mrbill.net/newcam/tn/IMG_0019.med.jpg (640x480)
http://www.mrbill.net/newcam/IMG_0019.jpg (2048x1536)

And, here's the same pole from another angle, as I was returning home from
various errands:

http://www.mrbill.net/newcam/tn/IMG_0027.med.jpg (640x480)
http://www.mrbill.net/newcam/IMG_0027.jpg (2048x1536)

Why the heck would they not just move over those few remaining lines and
cut off the old pole at ground level?  Any ideas?  It's been 3 weeks or so
since the new pole was installed, and I'm sure the concrete is well-set by
now.

(other test pictures with the A300 at www.mrbill.net/newcam)

Bill

-- 
bill bradford
austin texas