This has to be the biggest batch of bullshit excuses I have ever heard. Gas, water, and sewer are all buried, but somehow burying electrical is “impossible”.
This has to be the biggest batch of bullshit excuses I have ever heard. Gas, water, and sewer are all buried, but somehow burying electrical is “impossible”.
Honestly, I expected it to be impossible.
The stuff that’s already buried was put in as the city was built, and all easements and rights of way were baked into development.
Burying new stuff en masse would require new easements and that would either require negotiated payments or eminent domain and the legal fights that come with it. Even if they managed to get all the land rights needed, there would be a decade of torn up streets, sidewalks, back yards, etc to deal with before it was all buried.
Most of this right of way is already owned by the city, state, or county. It’s where the telephone poles are dug in and the water lines are buried. Most electrical in the city follows road routes and could be placed under bike lanes, sidewalks, and roads.
Torn up streets are nothing new in Austin. Might as well start integrating it into existing road and sidewalk projects.